Hot Stove Baseball: Sheffield Venom goes deep to beat North Ridgeville in Class G

ALLIANCE — Sheffield broke out the long ball against North Ridgeville. The Venom slugged three home runs and rode strong pitching to a 14-3 six-inning win in the Hot Stove Class G (age 11-12) state semifinals at Butler Rodman Park on Saturday afternoon. Sheffield will face Midview, which defeated Alliance 12-5 in its semifinal, in the Class G championship today at 2:30 p.m. "These kids are resilient," Sheffield coach Brian DeVito said. "They look after each other. Somebody makes a bad play in the field, they turn around and make up for it at the plate. Just completely unselfish players." North Ridgeville led 3-1 after two innings when Sheffield exploded for six runs in the third. Jeffrey Bier III gave Sheffield the lead with a two-run home run to center field. Then after the Venom got another run off a wild pitch, Jordan Santos delivered a towering shot to center for a single that drove in two more. "It was just a line drive and rolled all the way to the fence," said Bier, who finished 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBIs. "My dad said if you hit it hard it will roll and you'll be able to score off it. "We just needed to hit. Once everyone did that everyone got excited. I've been on this team for four years and the last two years we got eliminated in the first round, so it feels good to make it to the final." Lucas and Caleb DeVito joined the home run party. Lucas crushed a two-run shot in the fifth to give the Venom an 11-3 lead, and Caleb blasted a three-run shot in the sixth that ultimately triggered the run rule at 14-3, though North Ridgeville had a chance to answer in its half of the inning. North Ridgeville also didn't have an answer for Sheffield's pitching of Bier and Vinny Ott. Ott pitched 4 2/3 innings of shutout relief, striking out eight and allowing just three baserunners — two walks and a hit. "He's one heck of a player on both sides of the ball," Brian DeVito said of Ott. "He kind of does it all for us and then at the plate he just makes solid contact." The Rangers scored all three of their runs in the second inning, capitalizing on back-to-back walks to start, with both coming around to score. Logan Kowalczyk roped a single and eventually scored, too. North Ridgeville had a golden opportunity to pile on with the bases loaded and one out, but Ott came in and ended the threat by striking out the next two batters. "We knew coming into today was going to be hard because we were down two of our best players," North Ridgeville coach Jamie Cleveland said. "They fought, we knew it was going to be an uphill battle, but Sheffield played great. They have two aces and both of their pitchers pitched well." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.