17-run second inning puts Hollister into championship
Hollister – Hollister’s Babe Ruth All-Star squad beat up on visiting Ripon Wednesday evening 19-0 to earn a spot in Saturday’s championship game.
“We’ve got a really good team,” said Hollister manager Stephen Ferranti. “They’re really baseball savvy and they always know what they’re doing out there.”
Hollister jumped out to a 2-0 lead following its at-bas in the first inning and then starting pitcher Matt Miguel and the Hollister defense held Ripon scoreless in the bottom half after getting out of a jam with the bases loaded.
And then came the second inning.
It was a big inning for Hollister t say the least. The team sent 18 batters to the plate in the second before Ripon could muster a single out. Miles Sanchez started things off by coaxing a walk out of Ripon starter Michael Donaldson. Jacob Eichhorn was up next and he reached safely thanks to a miscue by the Ripon infield. Bret Furtado then took the first pitch he saw from Donaldson for a base hit to load the bases.
Dane Lamanna was fourth to the plate in the second and he turned on the first pitch he got, sending it to center field to score Eichhorn and Sanchez, making it 4-0.
At that point, the Hollister bats were just starting to warm up.
Chad Whitehead brought in a pair with a single down the first base line before Stevie Cabral singled a couple of batters later to once again load the bases. Sanchez was up next, his second trip to the plate in the second, and he blasted a shot to center that took a hop into the fence. Lance Villasenor, Cabral and Miguel all came across on Sanchez’s double.
Cabral came to the plate for another helping in the second to find the bases loaded yet again and he drilled one to deep left field to score both Whitehead and Justin Terrill, pushing the score to 17-0.
Miguel grounded out to the Ripon shortstop as the team’s next batter but Villasenor managed to score on the play. Hollister wrapped up its scoring shortly after that when Cabral came across on another error by the Ripon defense.
“The team really hit today,” Cabral said after the game. “Our pitching was excellent, our defense was excellent as always. We all played hard today and that’s what counts. If we can play Saturday like we played today, I think we’ll be okay.”
Hollister has gone a perfect 3-0 in the tournament so far. Saturday’s championship game at Veteran’s Memorial Park will start at 10am but, given the fact that this is a double-elimination tournament, the team would actually have to lose twice on Saturday to be denied the title.
