Hollister American defeats Hollister National twice for
championship
Staff Reports
Salinas – After splitting their first two meetings and with their aces on the mound for the District 9 championship game, the Hollister National and Hollister American 9-10-year-old All-Star teams expected a close game on Saturday.
However, the American League squad jumped out to an early lead at Salinas American field and never looked back as it rolled to an 18-5 victory, clinching the championship and a berth in the section finals in San Jose.
“We flat-out dominated the last three games, hands down,” Hollister American manager Robert Fabing said. “When I got this roster and saw the 13 kids I was going to have, I knew … we had a chance to dominate and win district.”
As has been its style throughout the tournament, Hollister American got runners on base in the top of the first and made their opponent play catch-up right away. After a leadoff single by Daniel Gonzales and a walk to Cody Cameron, starting pitcher Robert Soto doubled to drive in Gonzales. Cody Asp hit an infield single to load the bases ahead of a Dylan Yamasaki sacrifice fly that drove in Cameron with the second run of the game.
With runners at first and third, Asp got in a rundown between first and second, which allowed Soto to score another run. After a Tony Diaz single, Jordan Lopes also singled to drive in Asp, putting American up 4-0 before Hollister National even came to bat.
In the bottom of the first, Cody Freitas singled with one out, advanced to third on a passed ball, and scored on a Tyler Fhurong RBI single to make the score 4-1. After surrendering a walk, Soto worked out of the jam.
The hit parade continued in the second inning for Hollister American, as Josh George led off with a double to the right centerfield wall. Gonzales reached on an infield single and Cameron blooped a single to right, scoring George to increase the lead to 5-1. Gonzales scored on a passed ball and then Cameron scored on an error to tack on two more runs. Finally, Asp, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, scored on another single by Lopes, making it 8-1 Hollister American heading to the bottom of the second inning.
Soto retired the Nationals on 10 pitches in the bottom of the inning.
In the top of the third, the American squad got the third single of the day from Gonzales, who advanced to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on Soto’s third hit of the game to put American up 9-1.
Soto had another efficient inning in the bottom of the third, inducing three groundouts to third base around a double by Nathan Alvarez.
In the fourth inning, American League pinch hitter Austin Wahl reached on an error and advanced to third base on an overthrow before Diaz singled him in to make it 10-1. Lopes reached on a fielder’s choice and later scored on another error to bump the lead to 11-1 American. Josh George reached on a bunt single and Marcos Perez was hit by a pitch before Soto’s third hit in as many innings knocked in both runners to stretch the lead to 13-1.
The Nationals, whose only loss of the tournament was the previous day to Hollister American, mounted a bit of a comeback in the bottom of the fourth after Greg Steinbeck and John Canes walked back-to-back. Hunter Haworth then singled to load the bases before leadoff hitter Dylan Lomanto walked with the bases loaded to give Hollister National its second run. With two outs, Tyler Fhurong doubled to score two runs and Alvarez singled to drive in another to put the score at 13-5 heading to the fifth inning.
Tony Diaz, who had reached on a single and advanced to third on an error, scored on a wild pitch to bump his team’s lead to 14-5.
Hollister National continued to put the ball in play in the bottom of the inning, but Hollister American maintained its flawless defense behind reliever Dylan Yamasaki to keep its counterpart off the bases.
In the final frame, Cameron singled, Soto hit a double-his fifth hit of the game-and Cameron scored on a wild pitch ahead of an Asp single that plated Soto. Austin Wahl followed with a two-run homerun over the left field fence to make the score 18-5 American.
Yamasaki dispatched the Nationals on 10 pitches in the bottom of the sixth to wrap up the game and the district championship.
“We just absolutely annihilated the ball Saturday,” said Fabing, whose team outscored its opponents 91-9 in seven games in the district tournament.
Hollister American is set to face the winner of the District 39 championship in the first round of Section 5 tournament. Fabing said he and his players know the stakes will be even higher when they take the field Thursday.
“It gets a heckuva lot tougher now,” Fabing said. “We’re not going to be winning by 10-15 runs. … It’s going to be a tough road.”
Hollister American’s road begins when it faces the Aptos–Scotts Valley winner at Union Little League in San Jose on Thursday at 5:30pm.
