Hollister National squad jumps out to early lead but Hartnell
battles back
Hollister – Following its 3-4 extra-inning loss to the Hartnell All-Stars, the Hollister National All-Stars are down, but most definitely not out.
Hollister started Tuesday’s game at Veteran’s Memorial Park hot, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning with some solid hitting, but the Hartnell squad kept grinding away against starter Skyler King and the rest of the Hollister defense and managed to squeak out the victory in eight innings.
“Now we go into the dreaded losers bracket,” said Hollister manager Albert King. “But it’s a double-elimination tournament and we basically just have to keep working hard and I think we’ll get there.”
Hollister’s Keegan Bielejec got the crowd on its feet right away by sending the game’s first pitch sharply to the Hartnell shortstop, whose throw to first was no match for Bielejec’s wheels. Up next was Ryan Jacob, who was gutsy enough to suit up for Tuesday’s game despite suffering a broken nose in last Thursday’s practice, battled with Hartnell starter Cameron Neff long enough for Bielejec to steal second.
Bielejec took third with King at the plate but the Hollister team faced a tough situation moments later with two outs and a runner 90-feet away from scoring.
But Zach Zanger delivered with a clutch two-out hit to shallow right to put up the game’s first run.
Up next was Tyller Smith, and the Hollister shortstop came through with another clutch hit, this time a hard shot that rocketed right past the first baseman and rolled into the outfield for an RBI triple.
King and the Hollister defense held their opponents hitless in the first but the Hartnell squad tied things up in the second thanks largely to some miscues by Hollister’s infield.
The two teams went back and forth through five innings and, heading into the sixth, things were all tied up at 3-3 and Hollister was looking to put up a run and leave it up to its defense to close things out.
And it probably would have worked out that way too, had it not been for an amazing pair of running catches by Hartnell center fielder Brandon Thorp to rob consecutive Hollister batters of extra-base hits.
After failing to score in the sixth, the two teams went to extra innings, where Hartnell got a runner across from third on a passed ball in the eighth to take the win.
“We’ve got practice tomorrow and we’re going to work hard,” King said. “But, the way the kids keep working, the way they keep battling, it just shows that they have tremendous heart. They’re definitely not a team that quits.”
