By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After Riverside-based Fatty’s Restaurant pitcher Ritchie Terrio came off the mound in the eighth inning on Saturday, Fatty’s Coach Britt Waguespack implored his players to tip their caps to the left-hander.

Soon, they would be mobbing him at home plate.

After allowing seven runs through the first four innings of his team’s contest with Hahnville-based Otto Candies LLC, Terrio allowed only one hit in the last four innings before slamming home the game winning RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.

It spelled the first victory of the summer for Fatty’s, an 8-7 come from behind district win contested at Lutcher.

Fatty’s (1-3) trailed 7-1 after four innings before launching its comeback. Remi Poirrier’s three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh tied the game at 7-7, sending it to extra innings.

After Bobby Smith drew a walk in the eighth, he’d steal second before Terrio came up with one out. Terrio drove a pitch to the outfield, and the celebration was on.

“I can’t even describe the feeling,” Terrio said. “I was so nervous at the plate. But when I saw the pitch, I knew I had to rip it. After that, I knew I just had to touch first, then meet my team at home plate.”

Waguespack said that he hoped the win would break the ice for the team this summer.

“It’s what we’ve been looking for, some of these guys to step up,” he said. “The kids came together today. We played a complete team game.”

It was a hot day at Lutcher, but Terrio seemed to get stronger on the mound as it went on. He threw over 120 pitches, and retired 15 of the last 17 batters he faced – one reached on a single, another on an error.

“He goes out and battles,” Waguespack said. “He gives up seven runs in four innings, then shuts things down in the last five. Then to go out and get the game-winning hit…it’s unbelievable.”

Dylan Becnel and Kane Keller each walked in the seventh inning before Poirrier came up to bat with Otto on top, 7-4. Poirrier’s home-run swing tied things up, and shifted the momentum permanently to the Fatty’s dugout.

“I knew I just had to get a hit there for my team,” said Poirrier, who also had a two-RBI triple in the game. “I’d struck out earlier with two on, but was able to come through (in his last two at bats).”

Otto Candies led 3-1 in the second inning when Blaise Dempster singled to drive in a run, making it 4-1. John Gomez’s sacrifice fly later in the inning scored Dillon Boudreaux to extend the lead to 5-1.

An RBI single in the third inning by Jared Harvell and a sacrifice fly by Matt Allo in the fourth made it 7-1 in favor of Otto Candies, and Fatty’s Restaurant looked to be on its way to a fourth straight loss.

But things changed in a hurry. Poirrier’s two-RBI triple in the fifth cut the lead to 7-3, and Chase Bazile’s RBI groundout in the sixth cut it to 7-4, setting up the dramatic final two innings.

Terrio said that he never felt the game was out of reach.

“I knew this team had it in them to come back,” he said. “Once we rallied to tie it up, I just knew I couldn’t let them down.”