Hollister American hopes to meet again in District 9 title
game
When Hollister’s red and blue teams come together, it is sure to be a close contest.
Tuesday night’s District 9 11-12 All-Star game at Hartnell in Salinas was no exception. The National team got the 4-2 victory and the bragging rights for now.
Hollister National remains in the winner’s bracket and plays Saturday at 11 a.m. at Ferrasci against Continental or Atlantic. The loss drops the American team down into the loser’s bracket, where they face King City Thursday at Hartnell at 5:30 p.m.
Although his team now has one loss, American manager Steve Gessell expects them to be right there playing the National team in the championship game even if it means having to go the round about way to get there.
“We have plenty of pitching and good attitudes,” Gessell said. “We’ve been there before. It is nothing we can’t handle.”
National manager Jerry Sepulveda also said there is a good possibility the teams could meet next Tuesday or Wednesday for the championship.
“They’re very capable of doing it,” Sepulveda said. “They’ve played a lot of baseball. They have a good baseball club with a good coaching staff. This game really could have gone either way with how strong the two teams are.”
Both teams traded home runs in the first inning. Daniel Arevalo led off the game with a home run for the National team – his second in two games.
Arevalo, who usually bats in the No. 3 or 4 spot, was moved up to bat leadoff to force teams to pitch to him, Sepulveda said.
“If they want to walk him, the rest of the guys can hit too,” Sepulveda said.
Ricky Garcia followed Arevalo with a triple and then scored on a passed ball.
In the bottom of the inning, Kyle Zozaya hit a two-run home run to bring in Trevor Gessell, who had hit a double off the wall, to tie the game at 2-2.
The Nationals went ahead for good in the fifth inning. One run scored on a passed ball. Left hander Daniel Schulman, who came in in the third inning, drove in the second run with a solid base hit to left center field.
The Americans had a chance to score in their half of the fifth after putting runners on first and second.
But Schulman, in left field, made a nice running catch to take away the threat. He had to run a long way, but he was able to hone in on the ball near the foul line to make the catch.
Hollister American got a runner on base in the final inning with two out but couldn’t bring him in. The Americans had a chance to turn a couple double plays but couldn’t get the close calls.
Defensively, Ramiro Chapa was solid in center field for the Nationals. Justin Schie came in off the bench and made some tough stops at second base – one was on a smoking short hopper hit by Zozaya that he calmly fielded for the out.
Both Arevalo for the Nationals and Kyle Vallejo for the Americans went the distance on the mound.
“It is really hard to pick out any one thing that has been working for us,” Sepulveda said. “You could throw out 12 names in a hat and pick out nine and could go play baseball anywhere. They hustle in practice, and they meet each other at the dugout after every play. It is very fun bunch of kids to be associated with. Our depth and attitude on the field is hard to beat. That is what will carry us far.”
