PRUNEDALE
– The official scorer for Hollister American’s District 9 Majors
All-Stars game with King City Sunday at Manzanita Park had made his
ruling and he was sticking to it.
PRUNEDALE – The official scorer for Hollister American’s District 9 Majors All-Stars game with King City Sunday at Manzanita Park had made his ruling and he was sticking to it. A ground ball up the middle by King City’s Ronnie Ayon in the top of the fifth was played into an error on the part of Hollister American.
That meant Hollister American Little League righthander Steven Cabral had himself an official no-hitter to go with his 4–0 shutout victory.
Why not? Cabral had earned it.
He pitched to just two batters over the minimum, walking Ayon in the second inning. Cabral had a stretch of eight straight K’s in the middle innings and whiffed a career-high 15 batters for the game.
The win kept Hollister American – which cherished its first round bye – in the winner’s bracket. Next up is Soledad this Wednesday at Salinas-Continental Field at 5:30 p.m. Soledad beat Gonzales 6-2.
“Hollister’s pitcher was overpowering,” said King City manager Greg Johnsen of Cabral. “Both pitchers pitched well. It was a hard-fought game.”
“The story was Cabral,” said Hollister American manager Steve Ferranti. “He dominated. Their pitcher did a good job of keeping us off-balance.”
Cabral, for his part, had to think for awhile as to what pitch was working best for him.
“My fastball was my best pitch,” said Cabral. “My curve has a real break to it and is a good pitch when I get it over.”
After stranding two runners in the first inning against lanky King City starter Rory Johnsen, Hollister American got some pop from the seventh spot in the order from Alfonso Reyes in the second. Reyes rode an 0-2 hanging curve from Johnsen high over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead. It was Reyes’ seventh home run of the season.
Reyes finalized Hollister American’s scoring in the next inning when he ripped a run-scoring single to left to score Trevor Fabing. With one out in the inning, Kyle Zozaya reached base with a spinning blooper on the infield for a hit. Cabral then smashed a double down the third baseline, sending Zozaya to third. Fabing’s single through the box scored Zozaya.
Hollister American scored its third run of the game on a perfectly executed double steal as King City opted to throw down to second to try to get Fabing as Cabral scored from third base.
The defensive play of the game was made by Hollister American’s Trevor Gessell. Gessell went into the hole to take a basehit away from King City’s Peter Giudici with none out in the second inning. Gessell, batting leadoff, had two of his club’s seven hits.
“We have a great team,” said Cabral. “We can go all the way.”
King City 000 000 – 0 0 2
Hol. Am. 013 00X – 4 7 2
Johnsen and Betancourt; Cabral and Reyes. WP-Cabral. LP-Johnsen. 2B – Cabral (HA). HR – Reyes (HA). 2 hits – Gessell, Reyes (HA). 2 RBI – Reyes (HA).
