A Hollister v. Hollister semifinal ensures at least one team
will play in Sunday’s championship. And behind Andrew Sotelo’s big
bat and right arm
— the 13-year-old lined a two-run homer in the second and
pitched five shutout innings — Hollister National advanced to the
title game with a 9-0 victory over Hollister American on Tuesday at
the Atlantic Little League fields in Salinas.
SALINAS
Divided by uniform color and little else, Hollister National and Hollister American often meet up at least once during each and every District 9 All-Star Tournament, and Tuesday’s Major Division semifinal in Salinas was perhaps a mere appetizer of things to come.
“Someone always has to win,” Hollister American manager CR Gonzales said Tuesday. “Someone always has to lose.”
No, it’s not a perfect world. But a Hollister v. Hollister semifinal ensured at least one local team would play in Sunday’s championship. And behind Andrew Sotelo’s big bat and right arm — the 13-year-old lined a two-run homer in the second and pitched five shutout innings — Hollister National advanced to the title game with a 9-0 victory over Hollister American on Tuesday at the Atlantic Little League field in Salinas.
It was the third straight shutout for National since opening the District 9 tournament with a 13-2 win against Greenfield. The boys in blue have since defeated Continental, Gonzales and now Hollister American by a combined 32-0 margin, and now sit one win away from claiming the coveted District 9 banner.
The championship is slated for Sunday at Hartnell Little League field in Salinas at 10 a.m.
“Everyone contributed,” Hollister National manager Anthony Sotelo said. “I told them, if we all put in a little something, we’ll come out with a win and that’s what we did.”
Andrew Sotelo began contributing immediately on Tuesday. The National’s starting pitcher struck out two in the first inning — and even stranded a runner at second base — then connected on a lead-off single to open the bottom half of the first.
Following Tyler Biersdorff’s double to deep right field — the ball landing at the foot of the fence — Sotelo later plated the game’s first run when Drew Williams connected on a fielder’s choice ground out to the shortstop, scoring Sotelo from third base.
“He’s a very good player,” Gonzales said. “A very good all-around player.
“But we just did not execute.”
While Vinnie Parker tagged a double off Sotelo in the first inning, the National pitcher didn’t allow another hit until he reached his pitch-count limit of 85 following the conclusion of the fifth inning.
He finished with one walk and 11 strikeouts on the mound, and even fanned the last six batters he faced.
“National came out firing and they beat us, plain and simple — no excuses,” Gonzales said. “We knew they were gonna have a good pitcher on the mound, but they also put nine runs on the board.”
Things appeared to be going National’s way early on, too. In the second inning, Elijah Changco delivered a two-out infield single that appeared to sail over the third-base bag, but remained in play. The ball was fielded cleanly by third baseman Macen Schwehr, but was hit deep enough in the corner for Changco to reach first base safely and score John Barrientos from third.
One batter later, Sotelo golfed a two-run homer over the left-center field wall, putting National ahead 4-0.
“They tend to step it up. We tend to step it up,” manager Sotelo said. “We did all the little things good.”
National tacked on additional insurance in the third when Daniel Hopkins connected on an RBI single to score Drew Williams, while Joshua Ramos did the same in the fourth with a bloop RBI single to center field that scored Barrientos.
Williams and teammate Russell Enz blasted back-to-back RBI doubles in the fifth to put the game further out of reach.
“We practice hard and we practice all the little things,” Sotelo said. “Everything will fall into place if we can just execute the little things.”
Hollister National has four days to further practice “the little things,” and will enter Sunday’s championship round with a full rotation of arms at their disposal.
Hollister American, meanwhile, will need to battle its way back through the elimination bracket, playing either Ferrasci, Continental, King City or Gonzales in Friday’s consolation semifinal at Ferrasci Little League.
First pitch for Hollister American is 5 p.m. in Salinas, where a win would place the boys in red into Sunday’s championship against Hollister National.
“It’s just a matter of sticking to our game plan and getting it done,” Gonzales said. “I hope they take it to heart and really bring something to the next game.”
District 9 All-Star Tournament — Junior Division
Hollister defeated Atlantic 5-0 on Tuesday night to advance to Saturday’s championship of the District 9 All-Star Tournament at Muni Stadium in Salinas.
Hollister will play either Atlantic or Hartnell on Saturday. Atlantic and Hartnell will square off in the elimination bracket’s semifinal on Thursday night at Muni Stadium in Salinas at 4:30 p.m.
The championship final, meanwhile, will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday. If Hollister loses, a second game will be held on Sunday at Muni Stadium at 1 p.m.
District 9 All-Star Tournament — 10-11
Hollister American defeated Hollister National 14-6 on Monday night to advance to Friday’s championship in the District 9 All-Star Tournament.
Hollister American will await the winner between Hollister National and Gonzales in a game that will be played on Wednesday at Ferrasci Little League field in Salinas at 5 p.m.
Friday’s championship, meanwhile, will be held in Gonzales at 5 p.m. If Hollister American loses, a second game will be played on Saturday in Gonzales at 4 p.m.
District 9 All-Star Tournament — 9-10
Hollister National defeated Soledad 6-3 on Monday to advance to Saturday’s championship in the District 9 All-Star Tournament.
Hollister National will await to see which team emerges from the elimination bracket.
Hollister American will square off against Greenfield on Wednesday night at North County Little League at 5 p.m., with the winner advancing to Thursday’s elimination bracket semifinal against Soledad.
The winner from that game will then advance to Saturday’s championship against Hollister National.
The championship is scheduled for American Little League in Salinas at 10 a.m. If Hollister National loses, a second game will be played on Sunday at American Little League at 1 p.m.
