Out of roughly 500 Little League teams in the Northern
California region
– an area stretching from Fresno to the California-Oregon border
– the Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars are one of
six teams still standing.
Andrew Matheson Sports Editor
Hollister – Out of roughly 500 Little League teams in the Northern California region – an area stretching from Fresno to the California-Oregon border – the Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars are one of six teams still standing.
If that seems overwhelming, maybe even a bit mind-boggling, for these 9- and 10-year-olds, it’s not.
This weekend, at East Hills Little League in San Jose, Hollister National will look to be the last team left standing at the Northern California Division 2 Championship, a tournament that last year’s Hollister American team won, giving this year’s Hollister National team a little added confidence.
“I think our whole team tries, even if we’re down by five runs, we try to come back and score six,” said Hunter Haworth, a pitcher and infielder for Hollister National. “We want to try and win it all and win back-to-back years for Hollister. If everyone tries on the team and does their best, then we can probably succeed.”
Through the past two tournaments, National is 8-2 and are champions of the District 9 All-Star Tournament and the Section 5 All-Star Tournament. Both times they’ve lost were in the championship round of those two tournaments, and both times they rose in the second game to become champions.
“I just continue to be amazed that these kids show no nerves at all,” Manager Adam Breen said. “I think that is the key to their success. They just enjoy playing baseball.”
In their most recent championship duel against Saratoga on Wednesday, Breen trusted his team would win the second game after falling in game one 9-0. He also believed they’d break out from the hitting slump that kept them nearly hitless in that game as well.
They accomplished both, and now find themselves in the top six for a reason.
“It’s certainly not something you think about,” Breen said of being in the top six at NorCal. “But then to take the next step, and realize that this is everything from Fresno north, it does put the accomplishment more into perspective.”
At NorCal, though, the five other teams competing have had equal success to National. Maybe not all of them have competed in a 13-inning, five-hour game that stretched over two days and pushed the pitching staff to the limit – as what happened to National in a 4-3 win against Santa Clara Westside in the Section 5 tourney – but everyone they’ll see are both district and section champions.
“Whatever happens, this whole run has been a wonderful success,” Breen said. “If we win it, that’s icing on the cake. If we lose it, it’s certainly not reason to be upset.”
Of course, the story line that has followed National through section, and especially their prolonged battle with Westside, was their pitching depth, which is what both players and manager believe may give the team an edge over other teams. Out of a roster of 13, few teams may be able to boast of having 10 pitchers like National can.
“Our story has been our depth in pitching,” Breen said. “I’m hoping that that’s going to help us continue on in this journey.
“Also, despite being one-hit in that previous game (against Saratoga), we still hit the ball. We haven’t been striking out a lot. We’ve been putting the ball in play. So, I think that’s going to help us – just giving yourself a chance by making contact. If we can do that, we’ve got as good a chance as anybody.”
At their final practice on Friday at Veterans Memorial Park, National was simply working on what has got them this far, and some of the players feel they’re a strong-hitting team with enough arms to make a squad from Hollister repeat at NorCal.
“It’s probably going to be a big step up when we get there. We’ll have to bring our level up to a higher level,” Haworth said. “But we have a pretty powerful and fast-learning team and we make a lot of contact.”
“I think we have enough pitching to do it,” said National player Riley Phelps. “We have a lot of high-quality pitching. The pitching really showed up at section, and we got on fire in that championship game against Saratoga.”
When asked if the experience of going to NorCal will be overwhelming, Phelps answered, “It’s pretty amazing that we’re one of the top six teams in the Northern California region, and it’s a pretty good feeling.
“And yes, I do wish I could have a little bit more summertime, but baseball is good, too.”
