District 1 Class 6A Baseball: Cheers for Wootten as Garnet Valley advances

CONCORD – The partisan crowd cheered on Garnet Valley’s Ryan Wootten in the top of the seventh inning Wednesday.

The Jaguars’ senior ace took a deep breath and kept a sharp focus on the task at hand.

That’s part of what makes him so good. No matter how big the moment, Wootten is the same kid.

Ice in his veins.

“I was telling myself, ‘We got this. Let’s go.’ The whole crowd was behind me, everyone was behind me,” he said. “They believed (in) me and I just got it done.”

Wootten threw a filthy offspeed pitch to record the final out and send No. 6 Garnet Valley to the quarterfinal round of the District 1 Class 6A tournament with a 1-0 victory over 11th-seeded Downingtown West. The Jags travel to No. 3 Owen J. Roberts Friday.

Wootten struck out eight and allowed seven hits and one walk. He worked around a two-out double in the seventh off the bat of Jay Sister, but came back with a game-ending strikeout of nine-hole hitter Connor Blence on his 103rd pitch of the day.

“You can’t ask for a more confident and in-control person than him,” GV coach Rudy Shiller said. “He just doesn’t get rattled. … He stays composed, does his thing, fires strikes and keeps the batters off balance. He stays the same way. You wouldn’t know it was 1-0 or 10-0. That’s what’s amazing about him.”

While Wootten dazzled on the mound, the Jags were stellar on defense, particularly the outfielders who recorded a pair of assists. In the sixth inning, Cooper Young hit a check-swing flare to right fielder Colin Simmons, who unleashed a perfect throw to Carter Wilson to nab John Morse trying to go from first to third.

“I saw a big hole over there in the four-hole, so I was ready to throw it to third no matter what,” Simmons said. “I knew he was a big run in that spot. As soon as he took off I knew that he was going to try to take third. The check swing brought me a little bit closer, I grabbed the ball and looked up and just fired.”

Sister got greedy in the fifth inning when he spanked a single down the third-base line and attempted to stretch it into a double. Left fielder Eddie Cwiertniewicz had other ideas. He made a great throw to second baseman CJ Wood who applied the tag on Sister for the out.

“Colin made a great throw, we know he has a strong arm. It was right on the money, that was great. And the play that Eddie made in the fifth, the kid hits a rope down the line and he makes a great throw to second,” Wootten said. “That stopped the momentum. If it wasn’t for them, it would have probably been a different game.”

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Garnet Valley's Ryan Wootten, in action against Radnor earlier this month, scattered eight hits and drove in the only run as Garnet Valley topped Downingtown West, 1-0. in the District 1 Class 6A tournament Wednesday. (Pete Bannan/MediaNews Group).