Williams: How Cincinnati Reds manager handles higher expectations entering Opening Day
HIGH-SCHOOL

Reds Urban Youth Academy hosts CPS baseball, softball All-Stars

Shelby Dermer
Cincinnati Enquirer

ROSELAWN- Before Cincinnati Public Schools board member Chris Nelms passed away last September, the former Cincinnati Reds draft pick wanted the local schools to be recognized every year. 

CPS was happy to oblige with the help of the Reds Urban Youth Academy Saturday afternoon when the renovated diamonds along East Seymour Avenue played host to the baseball and softball All-Stars of CPS. 

"Chris (Nelms) is a former board member of Cincinnati Public Schools, a Taft alumni, a former AD at Hughes and just an advocate for inner-city baseball and softball," Assistant District Athletics Manager Ricky Miller said. "We felt that this was really an appropriate event to honor and recognize him as an advocate for the game who helped grow the game, especially in the inner city and felt like it was a great time to honor him." 

"He (Nelms) was a man of family, a man of baseball and a man of God," Reds Community Fund Director Charley Frank said. 

The North and South baseball All-Stars represented Cincinnati Public Schools at the Reds Urban Youth Academy in the second annual C.P.S. Baseball/Softball All-Star Game.

Saturday marked the last time catcher/pitcher Ricky Rodriguez would ever represent Western Hills in Mustang maroon. The senior started the day with a third-place finish in the home run derby, but finished it with some hardware. 

In the North-South All-Star game, Rodriguez, who had a team-best 21 RBI at the plate and 1.73 ERA on the mound this season, was the starting pitcher for the South and struck out a pair of batters over a 1-2-3 opening frame. 

Working with an 18-man batting order, Rodriguez's at-bats were limited, but he made the most of them. In his first plate appearance, Rodriguez drilled a solo home run off Woodward's James Buster over the elevated left-field fence at Gendell Family Field to give the South a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning. 

A throwing error by the North loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, then Rodriguez launched the first pitch he saw from Gamble Montessori's Trey Taylor just inside the left-field foul pole for a grand slam that gave the South a commanding 8-0 advantage. 

In the fourth inning, Rodriguez was behind the plate and threw out Withrow speedster Kyandrey Davis, who tied for fourth in the ECC this season with 14 stolen bases.

For his big day at the plate and efforts in the field, Rodriguez was named Most Valuable Player. 

 

"It is an unbelievable feeling and I didn't expect this to happen," Rodriguez said. "What really made me try my best was that my grandma was flown in and it was an honor to have my coach and my A.D. here with all the time and dedication they put in with me and the entire Western Hills baseball team." 

"I'm really, really proud of him (Rodriguez). That's how he's been all year," Western Hills manager and reigning CMAC coach of the year Felix Moore said. "I talked to him last night and said 'I'm really proud of you, now just go out and have fun,' and he did that." 

After Rodriguez's first blast of the game, the South-siders played add-on in the fifth when Clark Montessori's Joshua Carr and Jesse Jarrold-Grapes and Hughes' Antwone Hill all scored on wild pitches to make it 4-0. 

Oyler's Nathan Perry led off the sixth with a walk and Riverview East's Cole Thomasson singled before Taft's Justice Grace reached on an error to set up Rodriguez's 4-run round-tripper. 

Hughes' basketball standout and first-year baseball player Dwayne Rosado threw a perfect second inning, then capped the game's scoring when he raced home after a passed ball in the top of the seventh. 

Riverview East's Daniel Blum III nearly manufactured a run all by himself in the top of the third for the South. The junior singled to center with one out off Shroder's Zach Scroghan, then stole second and third without a pitch being thrown. With teammate Joshua Robinson in the box, Blum took off for the plate but was thrown out. 

Carr, who led the Cougars with a 3.36 ERA this season, was the winning pitcher after tossing a scoreless third inning. 

On the softball side, the North erased an early 5-0 deficit by scoring 14 unanswered runs - including a 7-run fifth - to win it, 14-5. 

Withrow infielder/outfielder Samaria Moore took home MVP honors. The senior went 2-for-4, including a bases-loaded, two-run single in the fifth that scored Walnut Hills teammates Reiley Schmidt and Ella Schultian and gave the North the lead for good. 

It was a great showing for Walnut Hills in both the baseball and softball home run derby. 

Each participant was given six swings, with points awarded to any ball hit in fair territory.

Aiken senior Keoni Jones was the only one on the baseball side to send any out of the park, smacking two pitches into the brush beyond the left-field fence. Jones' 13 points was enough for first until Walnut's Loren Williams found the gap multiple times to tally a derby-best 14 points. 

In the eight-swing final round, Jones finished with 11 points and Williams one-hopped the fence in left center twice in his last three hacks to take home the derby title. 

Walnut Hills junior Loren Williams won the home run derby with 14 points in the opening and championship round.

"I wasn't trying to do too much until the end when I knew I had the lead," said Williams, who hit .329 with two long balls this season for the Eagles. "I was hitting the ball straight to center, if I pulled the ball there would've been a couple over the fence. I've hit some great balls over the fence during the season." 

Walnut's Reiley Schmidt scored 20 points in the final round of the softball derby, outlasting Oyler's Kanysha DePriest. Schmidt was the only girl to clear the fence, then ended her round with multiple shots that fell at the base of the wall. 

Walnut Hills Reiley Schmidt won the softball home run derby with 20 points in the final round. The senior hit .439 with 14 RBI and six extra-base hits for the Eagles in 2018.