Red and blue are everywhere
– from Salinas to Hollister.
All three Hollister Little League age groups will be in the
District 9 championship games tonight.
Red and blue are everywhere – from Salinas to Hollister.
All three Hollister Little League age groups will be in the District 9 championship games tonight.
And in the three brackets, there are two Hollister teams in each one waiting patently for the chance to see if it will be the red of the blue – the American of the National.
The National 9- and 10-year-olds defeated fellow American B 12-2 in Hollister on Monday night to end a strong run by the American B team.
The National team enjoyed an offensive explosion to eliminate the American squad and advance to the championship tonight.
Joey Schulman and Keegan Bielejec both had triples for the Nationals, and Franky Castillo hit a one-hop double to the fence.
The Americans scored two runs in the first inning, but the Nationals scored three in the first, eight in the second and one in the third for the victory.
Adrian Soto pitched three innings for the Americans, and Tyller Smith closed off the fourth. Smith walked the leadoff batter, but then the Nationals turned a 4-6-3 double play. And Smith caught a little pop-up for the final out
11-12’s
The Hollister American 11- and 12-year-old team defeated the National team 8-6 on Monday.
The two teams will meet again for the championship tonight. Each team has a loss.
The Americans got on the board in the first inning after Trevor Fabing scored on a wild pitch.
And in the the third inning, Kyle Zozaya launched a two-run home run to make the score 3-1. Joey Amaral had a solo shot for the Nationals.
In the fourth inning, the Nationals scored five runs to go ahead 6-3.
But Hollister American came back in the bottom of the fourth with five runs. Will Cross hit a two-run home run home run in his first at bat of the game to get his team within 6-5.
Trevor Gessell singled to knock in the tying run, and Zozaya brought in the final two with another base hit.
Kyle Vallejo pitched 3 2/3 innings and Gessell closed it out for the Americans.
Hollister National defeated Continental 16-4 on Sunday in a home run fest. Daniel Arevalo hit two home runs. Daniel Schulman, Justin Schlie and Trevor Raisbeck also went deep.
11’s
Hollister National defeated Hartnell 3-2 Monday to advance to the championship game tonight against the American team.
The last time Hollister American and National faced each other, American won 4-3 in seven innings. National has to win twice for the championship.
Hartnell scored runs in the first and second inning to take a 2-0 lead. In the first, Hartnell had a bunt, and an error allowed him to reach third. The run scored on a ground ball to second base.
In the top of third, Hartnell scored another one after a base hit. A bunt moved him to third and another groundout scored him. First baseman Michael Martinez came home to Jahziel Gonzales, whose tag was just late.
But in the bottom of the third, Hollister scored its three runs.
Stewart Patri, who doubled in the first inning, walked with one out.
Mark Hurley doubled to right center off the wall to put runners at second and third.
With two out, Martinez hit a low line drive that the right fielder tried to make a shoe-string catch on, but it deflected away to allow two runs to score. Dillon Di Napoli singled to bring in Martinez.
Di Napoli pitched the complete game for Hollister and shut down Hartnell 1-2-3 in the final three innings.
Adrian Casarez hit a double later in the game but was stranded at second base.
Hollister had four hits in the game – three of which were doubles. Hartnell had just one hit in the third inning. Both of its runs were unearned.
