Bainbridge's potential first-round MLB draft pick JR Ritchie was heckled mercilessly - until this happened
BONNEY LAKE - Yes, folks know who Bainbridge High School ace pitcher J.R. Ritchie is at this point.
In a few weeks, he might be the state of Washington's latest first-round selection in the amateur baseball draft.
And in a short time, he could be raking in a hefty paycheck.
Which might be why a brigade of vocal agitators showed up Saturday as Ritchie and Bainbridge came to town to face 3A Pierce County League champion Bonney Lake in the Class 3A West Central District tournament.
(MORE: Coverage of JR Ritchie's high school career)
Ritchie turned the game with one swing -a three-run home run that lifted the Spartans to a 7-2 victory, clinching the school its first regional-round berth since 2018.
Ritchie hammered a hanging slider from reliever Mason Wright with two outs in the sixth inning, and sent it over the left-center field wall to give Bainbridge a 5-1 lead.
"Everybody knows who he is - and everybody wants to kind of heckle him and all of that stuff," Bainbridge baseball coach Geoff Brown said. "The best part about it is ... that he turns and smiles, and says, 'Here we go!'
Watch: JR Ritchie, Bainbridge's projected high-round MLB draft pick, responds to hecklers with deep home run
"At that point, I knew he was going to do something big here. It was a huge momentum swing for the game. That is what he does."
And, oh boy, did Ritchie enjoy watching that baseball sail a long, long ways to silence the home crowd.
"(The heckling) was pretty funny - I've never had it so consistent before," Ritchie said. "It was constant chirping. It was going back and forth a little bit, and that was a good-time swing, I guess."
Bonney Lake got its licks in on Ritchie, too. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on catcher Duncan Roush's solo blast that got up in a prevailing tailwind and cleared two fences in left field.
It was the first time an opposing player took Ritchie deep since he was a ninth grader in 2019 - and only the second home run ever.
But Ritchie, whose fastball has gotten up to 97 mph this spring, only gave up four hits, striking out 12 in his complete-game effort. He did surrender another solo home run to Wright to lead off the seventh inning.
"To be honest, the kid is a winner," Brown said. "He is probably the best competitor out there. All he wants to do is win and play with his boys a last time, and (today) ... the big thing for him was to go to state."
