The Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars seem to have
a flair for the dramatic.
By Andrew Matheson Sports Editor
San Jose –The Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars seem to have a flair for the dramatic.
Down 5-4 in the bottom of the sixth against Davis American, National’s John Batelle connected for a two-run walk-off single to left field in Wednesday’s semifinal matchup at East Hills Little League in San Jose, plating both the tying and winning runs.
The 6-5 nailbiting win for National advances them to the championship round at the Northern California Division II Tournament this weekend.
When asked what he thought after he connected for the shallow single to left, Batelle said, “It was going to be foul, or someone was going to make the out.
“I was thinking it was going to be foul.”
Batelle added the single was one of the biggest hits of his career, and while he figured teammate Quinn Mendoza would score from third base, he wasn’t entirely sure that Andrew Breen would peel from second base and plate the winning run.
It was Batelle’s first hit of the game, and it came at just the right time.
Said Batelle, “I was thinking, why couldn’t I do it at the beginning of the game?”
After the game, National Manager Adam Breen said second base runner Andrew Breen broke for the plate right away when Batelle connected, and he didn’t even hesitate sending him home.
“Andrew (Breen) is an aggressive runner and I knew it’d take a perfect throw to home plate to get him out,” the manager said. “And by that time, the tying run had scored, and we had nothing to lose.”
Of course, the sixth inning come-from-behind win wasn’t the first time National had to mount a comeback on Wednesday.
Davis American scored three runs on three hits in the top half of the first to open the game, with National reliever Greg Moreno holding Davis scoreless until the sixth.
While both teams went scoreless in the second, the turning point for National offensively came in the top of the third on a defensive play.
With Trey Golston on first, Davis’ Drew Gnos singled to right field. But National right fielder Andrew Sotelo threw a bullet to third base to get a sliding Golston.
“It was a big, emotional lift,” Breen said. “When the kids ran off, they ran to (Sotelo) and they were excited again…It just takes that one breakthrough inning for us to get going.”
In the bottom half, National loaded the bases on three straight singles, and scored twice on a fielder’s choice from Sotelo and another from Andrew Breen, cutting Davis’ lead 3-2.
In the fifth, JoJo Telles bunted on, and Breen doubled down the left-field line. The ball ricocheted off the corner wall toward center, and Telles scored the tying run from first base. Later in the inning, Breen scored the go-ahead run after Hunter Haworth ripped a single to center field.
Davis, though, looking to mount a comeback of their own, put runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Kreidler connected for a single to left, scoring two and putting Davis up 5-4 heading to the bottom half.
Davis’ lead, though, wasn’t safe.
“The story of the game was battling back from the doldrums in the first inning,” Adam Breen said. “And not only did we battle back from the first inning, but we battled back when they scored twice in the sixth inning.
“No matter what happens, they’re one of the top two teams in Northern California.”
The win, more importantly, keeps National out of the losers bracket. Davis American will now play Friday against the winner of Thursday’s Porterville-West Sacramento game. Those three teams will have to play a game on three or four straight days to win the championship.
Hollister National, on the other hand, will await one of those three teams on Saturday at East Hills Little League in San Jose. Saturday’s championship round game will commence at 11am.
“We’ve been in this position twice now,” said Breen, whose National squad has fallen in the first championship game twice this season, only to win the second game. “That gives us a challenge to prepare these kids – to get it done on Saturday and not wait.”
