Glen Allen 11-year-old all-stars reach Cal Ripken League World Series title game

The Glen Allen Athletic Association 11-year-old Cal Ripken League all-star baseball team has advanced to the championship game of the World Series in Jensen Beach, Florida, a year after finishing third in the 10-year-old World Series.

The team finished pool play 3-1, then strung together three straight wins in bracket play Aug. 4 and 5 to reach the Aug. 6 title game against West Raleigh, N.C. The game is scheduled for 8 a.m. and may be viewed live online at https://baberuth-tv.app.vewbie.com/see-all/live.

West Raleigh defeated another local team, Rockville, 11-1 to advance to the championship.

Glen Allen began the tournament with a win against West Hartford, Connecticut (6-4) and a loss to Pennsbury, Pennsylvania (7-5) Aug. 1. The following day, the team defeated South Orlando, Florida (11-1), before pulling out a 6-5 win against West Raleigh Aug. 3.

Then in bracket play, Glen Allen beat Lutz, Florida (10-2) and Denville, New Jersey (8-1) Aug. 4 before defeating Cherry Hill, New Jersey – which had been undefeated in the tournament and which won the 10-year-old World Series last year – 7-1 Aug. 5.

Against Lutz, Christopher Kowtna had two hits and he, Carter Burton and David Paciocco each drove in two runs to lead the scoring. Mason Paciocco stymied Lutz on the mound, pitching a six-inning complete game with two strikeouts.

Against Denville, David Paciocco and Jack Adams led the way with two hits apiece, while Paciocco and Landon Allen each drove in two runs and Charley Robins drove in one. Giffin Tharp was solid on the mound, pitching four innings, allowing just one run and racking up four strikeouts.

In Friday morning’s win against Cherry Hill, Kowtna and Burton each had a hit and an RBI, while Allen added a hit and Tharp also drove in a run.

Charles Riviello continued Glen Allen’s mound dominance, tossing five innings of one-run ball while compiling six strikeouts. Glen Allen also took advantage of four Cherry Hill errors.

Overall in the team’s first seven World Series games, Allen has led the way with 10 hits, a .476 batting average and 10 runs batted in, while Adams has chipped in nine hits (for a .409 batting average) and scored 11 runs.

Cayden Keller has seven RBI and David Paciocco has scored 10 runs.

On the mound, Riviello has thrown 10.1 innings, struck out nine and compiled a stellar earned run average of just 2.90. Zain Bhasin (6.1 innings pitched, one earned run allowed and eight strikeouts), Tharp (7.2 innings pitch, 1.56 ERA) and Austin Nester (6.1 innings pitched, three strikeouts) have solidified the team’s rotation.

The team made only four total errors in its first seven games.

In addition to their earlier matchup this week, Glen Allen previously defeated West Raleigh 5-3 in the Southeast Regional tournament last month before losing 2-1 to Rockville. West Raleigh went on to win that tournament.

Glen Allen is managed by Scott Paciocco and coached by Matthew Paciocco, Joseph Burton and Joseph Adams.