SAN JOSE – The exit was quick for Hollister American at the
Section 5 Majors Tournament. Hollister American, the District 9
champ, was eliminated by Moreland of Campbell by a score of 5-3 on
Saturday at North Valley Little League Field.
SAN JOSE – The exit was quick for Hollister American at the Section 5 Majors Tournament. Hollister American, the District 9 champ, was eliminated by Moreland of Campbell by a score of 5-3 on Saturday at North Valley Little League Field. Hollister American opened up the tournament on Friday at Eastridge Little League Field with a 13-2 loss to Scotts Valley, which is really no shame. Scotts Valley has been having an easy time of it thus far, outscoring opponents 35-3 in three tourney victories.
“We were in the game for the first three innings with Scotts Valley,” said Steve Gessell, who took over the reins for manager Steve Ferranti. “Then our defense collapsed. Their pitcher threw fastballs and did a good job of getting in on our hitters’ hands.”
Devon Quintana and Justin Terrill hit solo home runs for Hollister American’s only two runs the game. Quintana had a near-identical solo shot in the loss to Moreland, which closed the gap to 5-3 with no outs in the bottom of the fifth, plenty of time left for Hollister American to tie the score. Moreland’s Stevie Jaramillo, though, retired the next three Hollister American batters in order to quell the mini-uprising. Chris Plambeck struck out the side in the sixth, along with giving up a walk to Alfonso Reyes to earn the save. All told, Hollister American fanned 12 times in the game, seven times against Moreland starter Patrick Downey, who threw the first four frames.
Most importantly, Hollister American had just two hits in the game. Besides Quintana’s drive, Trevor Fabing hit the base of the center field wall in the second for a long single to plate courtesy runner Tony Ravai, who was in running for Steven Cabral.
“We just didn’t get any timely hits,” said Gessell. “And we couldn’t string any hits together.”
“Hollister did a great job of pecking away to get back into it,” said Moreland manager Jim Downey. “They’re a quality team. They’re sound fundamentally. They had the tying run at the plate in the last inning. That showed me what kind of team they are.”
Cabral, who had pitched a great deal during the District 9 Tournament, started and wasn’t sharp due to some tenderness in his throwing arm. Amazingly, he got out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the first unscathed. T.C. Fairfield hit a soft liner to Terrill at first, who touched the bag to double up Plambeck. Cabral whiffed the next hitter to end the inning.
Cabral wasn’t so lucky in the second. Stephen Silva singled with one out, then Kevin Fontana singled with two outs. Kenny Pope, who had already doubled in the first inning, hit a soaring drive over the center field fence and Moreland was up 3-0. It was quite a game for Pope, who also played a silky-smooth center field. He began the game by robbing Trevor Gessell of extra bases as he flagged down Gessell’s threatening fly ball in left-center, tumbling backwards to the grass as he secured the ball in his glove.
Moreland pushed two more runs across in the third on RBI singles by Silva, who had three hits, and a bases loaded walk to Fontana. Terrill relieved Cabral to start the fourth and pitched well, yielding three hits and walking one. The lone walk came with one out in the top of the sixth. That runner was wiped off when Terrill fielded a comebacker, threw to Gessell at second, who threw to first base for the club’s second double play of the game.
Right fielder Kyle Vallejo charged in on a short fly to right from Jaramillo to make a catch at his knees in the second inning for another fine defensive play by Hollister American.
After struggling with its defense during its postseason run, Hollister American committed zero errors against Moreland, a small victory in itself.
“It was a good run,” said Gessell. “We had four 11 year-olds who gained a lot of experience. We should be strong next year.”
Tourney notes: Ferranti relinquished his managerial duties immediately following Hollister American’s 6-4 defeat of Hollister National in the District 9 title game, requesting that Gessell fill that role…..Scotts Valley defeated Almaden Sunday 12-0, while Moreland stayed alive with a 10-3 win over Milpitas South. Almaden plays Moreland tonight with the winner earning a spot in Tuesday’s title game with Scotts Valley, which holds the hammer. Scotts Valley is attempting to be the second team in two years from District 39 to win the Section. Aptos won it last year and went all the way to the Little League World Series. The Division is in Rocklin.
Moreland 032 000 – 5 10 2
Hol Am 010 110 – 3 2 0
Downey, Jaramillo (5), Plambeck (6) and Silva; Cabral, Terrill (4) and Reyes. WP-Downey. LP-Cabral. 2B – Pope (M). HR – Pope (M), Quintana (HA). 3 hits – Silva (M). 2 hits – Pope (M).
