MABL/MSBL Player of the Week: Ronny Orta, Central Florida MABL
Submitted by Jason McLaughlin, Tampa Phillies
Ronny Orta, an Alumni of Nova Southeastern and a two-year starting pitcher for the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League, has had a week to remember.
Ronny started the party on Saturday night during Game one in a best-of-three Championship Series for the CFABL Weeknight 18+ Men’s League. He took the mound for the home team Tampa Phillies and proceeded to throw six innings, allowing just one earned run while collecting six strikeouts.
As impressive as Orta’s pitching performance was, he still had a job to do on offense as the leadoff hitter for the Phillies. He led-off the game with a walk and insisted that he did not want a pinch runner.
At this point, it was clear that Ronny was ready to do it all that night and he was not going to let the rival Clearwater Blue Jays stand in the way of a win. Ronny exited his starting pitching performance after six innings of 1-run ball and passed the torch to Matt Campbell, a two-time SEC champion and 24th round draft pick, with a 3-1 lead. The lead was preserved until the top of the eighth inning when Harrison Rossi got his fourth hit of the game, a two-out, 2-run home run to center field to tie the game 3-3.
A clean ninth inning brought the game to extras while utilizing Texas tie-break rules (runner on second and one out to start the inning). The Blue Jays took the lead on a 2-out single to make the game 4-3 and were then retired, giving the Phillies a chance to walk it off in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The first Phillies batter went down swinging, which brought up starting pitcher, shortstop, and leadoff hitter, Ronny Orta with two outs and a runner on second, and down by a run. After four pitches, the count was 2-2 with both strikes coming off fastballs fouled straight back above the netting. Ronny was locked in as Braden Halladay, son of Hall of Fame pitcher Roy Halladay, fought to close out Game one of the Series.
Braden elected to challenge Ronny with a fastball over the plate and Ronny didn’t miss. He hit the ball 50 feet over the left field fence on a line to win the game! The crowd went wild, the fans went wild, but Ronny jogged around the bases stone cold, quiet, and expressionless.
It was as if he expected this type of outcome prior to stepping to the plate. Orta finished the night 1-2 with a home run, a walk, HBP, scored two runs, and knocked in two runs. As an exclamation point, Orta traveled to Zephyr Hills the next morning for a Sunday League 18+ Comp game and hit another home run during a 1-3, one walk with two RBI, and two runs scored performance.
On Wednesday night, Ronny returned for Game two of the Weeknight CFABL Championship and added another home run and two RBI while going 2-4 with a walk and two runs scored. He also pitched the final two innings and picked up the win after the Phillies took the lead in the ninth. The Phillies picked up their third Championship in a row and Orta picked up another three K’s and allowed 0 earned runs in his two innings in the 7-5 win.
From 8/17/2024 to 8/21/2024, Ronny Orta went 4-9, HBP, and three walks to go with three home runs, six RBI, and five runs scored. He was the hero of Game one with his extra-inning, 2-Run walk-off home run and a huge contributor in Game two to close out the series and secure the Championship.
He threw a total of eight innings during the series and grabbed nine K’s on his way to the win. He also hit home runs in three consecutive games between the Weeknight League and Sunday League.