PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA — Capitalizing on opponent’s mistakes, timely hitting, and hard-throwing pitching; The Palm Beach Gardens National league All-Stars did it all late on Saturday night in the opening game of pool play at Gardens Park in the 12U Cal Ripken Major60 World Series.

Palm Beach took a 3-2 lead in the third inning and added some insurance runs in the sixth and final frame to come away with a 7-2 victory over Ararat.

“We played tough today (Saturday) and made some mental mistakes,” Ararat head coach Jon Hiltz said after the game. “We definitely proved that we belong here.”

Tony Bieber earned the win in relief for Palm Beach, who took the lead for good when two runners scored on a Will Davis wild pitch in the top of the third inning. Davis was dealt the loss in relief after he came on for starter Colby MacFawn in the third inning.

The game started more than nine hours past the originally scheduled start time of 12:30 p.m. Thanks to multiple rain delays and a busy tournament schedule at the field, the first pitch wasn’t thrown until 9:33 p.m.

“Waiting was definitely difficult,” said Hiltz. “We just had to keep reminding the boys they needed to plan for us to have a game.”

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Ararat’s fierce offense broke through in the first inning but was quiet for the rest of the evening. The inning started when Brady Hiltz was hit by a pitch and Daniel Beal moved him over with a sac bunt. Tyler Thibeault reached on an infield single and later stole second before Davis drove in Ararat’s only two runs with a two-run single to center field.

Palm Beach Gardens didn’t get a hit until the third inning, but it broke through with two in the frame and capitalized on two Ararat errors to take the lead.

They added more runs in the sixth. First was a Bieber RBI double which was followed by a Jackson Higham RBI single. Riley Moore blew the game open with a two-run single to make it 7-2.

Moore was named the Palm Beach Gardens player of the game, while MacFawn received the award for Ararat.

Ararat has Sunday off before it faces Green County, Kentucky on Monday at 12:30 p.m.

“It’ll be nice to have a day off tomorrow (Sunday),” said Hiltz. “We look forward to getting back after it on Monday.”

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