Arlington 14-Under Senior Babe Ruth Team Wins State Crown

The start of the tournament was sloppy, but the ending turned the game around and resulted in a state baseball championship for the Arlington Senior Babe Ruth 14-under All-Stars

Arlington earned the crown with a 4-1 record, winning the last four games after Winchester defeated him 14-1 in the opener. Arlington fought back and in a rematch, Winchester defeated him 6-0 in the championship match.

The tournament was played at Barcroft Park in Arlington.

“The first game was a rough start. We had some early walks and fouls, they jumped on us and we knew we weren’t playing our best,” said Arlington manager Pat Baker, Jr. “We played a lot better after that and it was nice to come back like that. In the final game against Winchester, we stayed patient at the plate and played good defense behind Nick.”

Baker was referring to starting pitcher Nicholas Zafiropulos. The right-handed pitcher threw a complete-game shutout in the final game, allowing four hits, two walks and one strikeout. He also threw a shutout in a shortened four-inning 15-0 win over Vienna in the state, allowing two hits and striking out seven.

For his performance, Zafiropulos was voted the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

“He’s a checking pitcher and we made the plays on defense behind him,” Baker said.

Arlington also won this seven-team tournament against Northern Fairfax County (4-3) and Augusta (15-4).

William Beckett was the winning pitcher against Northern Fairfax and John Donahue against Augusta.

Northern Fairfax was Arlington’s second game and began the winning streak. Arlington scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning when William Winterling singled and eventually came home on Carter Stern’s groundout. Donahue got the save in the top of the seventh.

Arlington’s leading hitters were Winterling with six hits (three triples) and six RBI, Simon Kupczyk with six hits and scoring nine runs, Jowell Gomez with six hits (two triples) and Nolan Foerster with five hits and eight RBI.

In the state finals, Kupczyk hit a two-run single and a one-run single, Ethan Schweer had an RBI single and Foerster stole home.

Before the state tournament, Arlington won the two-team District 6 tournament by beating Vienna 5-4, 11-6 in the only two games. Foerster drove in the winning run in the 5-4 victory as Arlington came back from a 4-3 deficit. First, Kupczyk drove in a run to tie the score at 4.

Donahue pitched the final two frames to earn the save for Schweer. Donahue, Beckett and Foerster pitched in the 11-6 victory over Vienna.

Other players for Arlington include Carson Black, Liam Hinchliffe, Matthew Harrison and Nolan Reed.

By winning the state tournament, Arlington qualified for the Southeast Regional tournament in Ocala, Florida.