They will do it again.
As reports from Salinas began trickling in to Veterans Park during the 9-10 District 9 All-Star game Tuesday, Hollister American fans had hopes that it would be a triple sweep by the Americans. But the Nationals had other ideas.
Hollister National rallied from an 8-1 deficit to win 12-11 and force a deciding second championship game tonight. The two teams will battle it out again tonight at 7 p.m.
With the Americans up 11-10 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. Tyler Pina, who came in the fourth, tried to get the final three outs. He struck out two batters in the inning, but Hollister National rallied.
With one out, Keegan Bielejec walked and was replaced with courtesy runner Dylan Lomanto at first base.
And with two out, Brittany Hoff drew a walk. Joey Schulman got a hold of a ball and sent it deep into left center field to bring in the winning runs. Schulman came up big all day offensively for the Nationals, going 4-for-5.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, with the Nationals knocking on the door, Hollister American had a chance to pad their cushion.
The lead runner was called out for interfering with a ball hit to the shortstop. Coach Scott Salvas tried to protest the call, but the umpires wouldn’t let him because it was ruled to have been a judgment call.
National was still able to load the bases after a solid single to left field by Adrian Medina, but the Nationals left the bases loaded.
Hollister National scored five runs in the second inning and three more in the third inning to go up 8-1.
In the second, Ryan Bernal was hit in the elbow with the bases loaded to force in the first run for Hollister National.
Jacob Moeller chopped a ball that short-hopped the first baseman to allow two runs to score. Craig Slibsager laid down a perfect bunt down the third base line. He almost was able to beat it for a hit but was thrown out at first, and Bernal took off from third and was able to score on a close play at the plate.
Moeller scored on an overthrow for the final run of the inning.
In the third, Tyler Quimby led off with a walk, and Moeller had a hit. Marcus Sabatte brought in a run with an infield hit, and two more scored on a hit by Slibsager and an error.
Hollister National slowly started to fight its way back, scoring four runs in the third inning. The first run of the inning scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch.
Another run scored when the Americans tried to go home to get an out, and another scored on a ground out.
Emmett King roped a ball down the right field line to bring in the final run.
In the fourth inning, National continued the hitting attack. Schulman led off with a hit through the middle.
He got caught in a pickle between first and second but was able to take second as the throw wasn’t handled cleanly. Michael Breen and Adrian Soto walked to load the bases with no out.
Castillo hit a double, and an error in the outfield allowed all three runs to score to tie the game at 8-8. Lomanto had a key base hit to put the National league up a run and cap the four-run inning.
American went back ahead in the fifth inning after Gessell led off with a walk and scored on a wild pitch with two out. Tanner Carrillo-Zazueta singled to right to bring in Tyler Pina.
In the fifth, Carrillo-Zazueta made a great play at third base to get an out. He ranged way over by the dugout, leaped and made the catch as he fell to the ground.
But National still was able to get a run to tie the game at 10-10 on infield groundout. Gessell at first made a strong throw home, but Schulman was able to slide by.
In the sixth inning, American had what appeared to be the winning run. With two runners on, Moeller laid down a sacrifice bunt to move them over. Rovella scored on a groundout by Sabatte.
