There is a week in every baseball season when a team either puts up or shuts up. This is that kind of week for the LaFayette Ramblers.
Unfortunately, in Region 7-AAA these weeks come more often than coaches would prefer, and in this case it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the banged-up Ramblers.
LaFayette (7-7, 5-4) has been the early surprise of what is undoubtedly the toughest Class AAA region in the state. However, the Ramblers entered Thursday night’s showdown with Heritage minus three starters, making an already difficult stretch nearly impossible. A tight 3-2 loss to the Generals only made the next few even more important.
Following Heritage (9-2, 6-2), which was ranked 10th last week before losing to fifth-ranked Cartersville (10-2, 7-1), LaFayette was to face seventh-ranked Ringgold (10-3, 7-1) on Monday and eighth-ranked Allatoona (10-4, 6-2) on Thursday. Though there is the possibility of falling out of the playoff race, first-year coach Torrenti also sees a great opportunity.
“This is a solid region from top to bottom, and everybody makes a big deal out of the top three teams, but anybody in this league can beat you,” said Torrenti, whose team won four consecutive 7-AAA games before losing 4-3 to Gilmer County on Monday. “To say the least, there has been some adversity laid out in front of us. However, it’s a good opportunity to overcome it, and how much fun would it be if we did it?”