Hollister’s 13- and 14-year-old All-Stars crushed Atlantic of
Salinas 14-5 Wednesday, and will play in the District 9
championship on Sunday
Salinas
The Hollister Little League 13- and 14-year-old Junior All-Stars will play for the District 9 championship on Sunday after dismantling Atlantic of Salinas 14-5 on Wednesday at Municipal Stadium.
Three pitchers combined to hold Atlantic to three hits for Hollister, which is in its inaugural season of Junior League play.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the second inning, when Michael Breen singled and Lucas Haro walked ahead of RBI singles by Jacob Tonascia and Angel Pasillas to put Hollister up 2-0. Atlantic tied the game in the top of the third, but starter Tyler Pina shut them down in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the inning, Hollister put the game away by scoring eight runs. With one out, Tonascia singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Skyler King was hit by a pitch. A walk to Ryan Jacob loaded the bases for Brian Becerra, whose infield single scored Tonascia to put Hollister up 3-2. A smash off the bat of Niko Mendoza wasn’t handled by Atlantic’s third baseman, scoring King and Jacob to push the score to 5-2 Hollister. Another error on a Sean Corral grounder plated Becerra, and a two-run double to the wall by Pina knocked in Mendoza and Corral to make it 8-2.
Breen then followed with a double to left, and he and Pina scored on a two-run single by Haro to complete the eight-run outburst and bump Hollister’s lead to 10-2.
Atlantic answered with three runs in the top of the fifth to close the lead to five, but Hollister stretched its lead again in the fifth after Ryan Jacob doubled to center and advanced to third on Becerra’s bunt base hit. After a grounder for the second out of the inning, Richie Beltran doubled to left to knock in two and extend Hollister’s lead to 12-5.
Breen, in relief of Pina on the mound, coaxed two fly balls and a grounder out of Atlantic’s top of the order in the sixth inning. In the home half of the inning, Haro doubled and Tonascia singled with one out. Haro later scored on a passed ball and Tonascia scored when a grounder by King got by the second baseman to make the score 14-5.
Atlantic sent the middle of its order to the plate in the top of the seventh, but Ryan Jacob used just seven pitches to get a groundout, fly ball, and strikeout to close out the win for Hollister, whose opponent won’t be determined until Atlantic plays the winner of last night’s Continental-Hartnell matchup.
Hollister, under manager Dave Slibsager and coaches Rudy Mendoza and Scott Ito, has two chances to win the district title, starting with the championship game at 1 p.m. Sunday at Salinas Municipal Stadium. A win would send the locals to the section championship round, while a loss would set up a Monday rematch with the team that came out of the loser’s bracket. Monday’s game, if necessary, would be at 5:30 p.m. in Salinas.
