Hollister American 11- and 12-year-olds fall in first two games
to Saratoga and North Valley, and have been eliminated as a
result
SANTA CRUZ
Drew Williams and the Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars downed Scotts Valley 7-2 Saturday in the opening round of the Section 5 All-Star Tournament in Santa Cruz to advance to tonight’s semifinal round.
Hollister National will play District 59, representing parts of west San Jose, at 5 p.m.
The victor will move forward to Wednesday’s championship final, scheduled for 6 p.m., at Santa Cruz Little League.
Hollister’s victory on Saturday, meanwhile, was anchored by strong pitching performances from Davonte Butler (4IP) and Gehrig Mendez (2IP).
Giving up just one run combined, the hurling duo received all the run support it’d need in the first inning. Following back-to-back singles by Mason Marquez and Davonte Butler to leadoff, Drew Williams connected on a three-run homer. Hollister National would add another run before the inning was through, supplying the local 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars with an early 4-0 lead.
Tonight’s game between Hollister National and the District 59 representative will be held at Santa Cruz Little League’s Harvey West Park, located at 300 Evergreen Street in Santa Cruz.
Junior League
The Hollister Junior League All-Stars went 2-0 last weekend in the Section 5 All-Star Tournament at Willow Glen High School in San Jose. Defeating Gilroy 6-1 Saturday and Almaden 14-8 in eight innings on Sunday, Hollister advances to tonight’s semifinal round against District 44 representative Los Altos.
First pitch is at 5:30 p.m.
Saturday’s opener against District 39 Gilroy saw Hollister plate six runs on just three hits, one of which came in the first inning when Craig Slibsager doubled to the fence to score Michael Breen and give the local 13- and 14-year-olds a 1-0 lead.
“They threw a kid who threw real well,” manager Todd Freitas said. “And we struggled a little bit until the sixth inning.”
Starting pitching Richie Beltran held Gilroy scoreless until the sixth inning, when the D-39 representative tied the game at 1-all. But Hollister reclaimed its lead in the home half, scoring five runs on two hits to grab a 6-1 lead.
Breen and Angel Pasillas pitched two shutout innings of relief to preserve the victory.
Hollister advanced to Sunday’s quarterfinal round as a result where it met Almaden, which supplied Hollister with both of its losses during last year’s Section 5 tournament.
Hollister jumped on Almaden early in the contest and scored three in the first inning, one of which came off of Robert Soto’s RBI single. Hollister added another in the second when Slibsager’s sacrifice scored Chris Manderson to give the locals a 4-0 lead, but Almaden exploded for eight runs in the bottom of the second to go up by an 8-4 margin.
Hollister answered in the following frame with three more runs when Jacob Tonascia connected on a two-RBI single. Tonascia would later score on Slibsager’s RBI single to bring Hollister to within one run.
The equalizer came in the fifth inning when Slibsager’s double scored Dylan Ito to make it an 8-8 game.
“We hit the ball well and played great defense,” Freitas said.
Hollister had 15 hits total in the game, and pushed across six runs in the eighth inning. Following a Slibsager single, Richie Beltran and Robert Soto connected on back-to-back RBI doubles. Soto would advance to third base after a Cody Cameron infield single, while Cody Freitas laid down a successful suicide squeeze attempt that scored Soto.
“That took the wind out of their sails at that point,” Todd Freitas said.
Hollister tacked on three more runs in the eighth, and easily held on for the 14-8 victory.
The Junior League All-Stars will play District 44 Los Altos tonight at Willow Glen High School in San Jose. The winner will advance to Wednesday’s championship final.
American 11-12
The Hollister American 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars went 0-2 last weekend at the Section 5 All-Star Tournament in Cupertino, and have been eliminated from contention as a result.
Eliminated 8-6 on Sunday by North Valley, Hollister lost its opener on Saturday by a 13-3 margin to District 12 representative Saratoga. The game was called after four innings.
“We just didn’t get it done in that game,” manager Robert Fabing said.
Through two innings against Saratoga, Hollister American committed two errors, allowed seven walks and two hits, and hit one batter.
“And you just can’t do that,” Fabing said. Saratoga, as a result, scored eight runs.
“That’s tough to recover from,” the managed added.
Hollister managed to grab an early 1-0 lead in the first when Conner Starke singled on and was then bunted to second by Junior Rodriguez and then singled over to third by Connor Fabing. Troy Ocampo then grounded out to second to score Starke from third.
But Saratoga responded with five in the first to reclaim the lead. Hollister American answered with another run in the second when Justin Goodwin doubled on and later scored off of Tony Amaral’s RBI double. But once again, Saratoga increased its lead to 8-2 when it scored three more runs in the second inning.
Hollister made it 8-3 in the fourth when Enrique Rodriguez singled, and was then brought home on Amaral’s groundout. But Saratoga posted five more in the fourth to grab a 10-run lead.
Moving to the elimination bracket against District 59 representative North Valley, which scored two runs in the first and three more in the second, Hollister went hitless to start until Fabing’s RBI double brought home Junior Rodriguez from first base in the fourth inning. Fabing later scored off a Michael Marler groundout, but Hollister still trailed North Valley 5-2.
Hollister American came within one run of North Valley in the fifth when Starke’s fielder’s choice scored Josh Tonascia and Fabing’s RBI single plated Starke, but North Valley added three more in the bottom half of the fifth to take an 8-4 lead.
In the sixth, Hollister American loaded the bases with one out. Junior Rodriguez singled home a run and Fabing drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 8-6, but American couldn’t get any closer.
“I knew we played hard,” Fabing said. “Against Saratoga, it just didn’t happen. Against North Valley, I think we could beat that team. They just came out and hit the ball before we did.
“We fought back and competed. We put the tying and winning runners on base, we just didn’t get it finished. But the kids competed.”
