>>52788826Excuses.
Squirtle wasn't tired in his match vs butterfree, and he lost because he got hit by a sleep powder, which would have ended him even if he were 'fresh'.
Ritchie's pokemon were just better trained. Don't forget that Ritchie used the same 3 pokemon in all his matches prior, and didn't lose a single pokemon in any of them unlike Ash who lost many. Ritchie was the better trainer, the anime repeatedly hammered this point in. Even Brock and Misty were lecturing Ash how hopeless his situation was because Ritchie was objectively better than him. Ash was doomed from the start. No matter what, Ash would have had to rely on Charizard to power his way through, but Charizard would never grant him that.
"His pokemon were tired!" is just a cope.
