Hitmen, Jr. ‘Balers, Smashers all claim tournament titles
Sunnyvale
Continuing the winning trend that Hollister baseball teams have grown used to, the 12U Hollister Hitmen, the 10U San Benito Junior ‘Balers and the 9U San Benito Smashers all took first place at the USSSA Memorial Day A through Z baseball tournament at the Twin Creeks Sports Complex in Sunnyvale.
The three teams combined for a 17-1 record during the three-day tournament, and even won their three championship finals by a combined 19-6 margin.
12U Hitmen
Hollister went 6-1 in their respective tournament, and finished strong after losing their first game 11-7 to the Stealth out of Santa Clara.
From there, the Hitmen defeated the Brentwood Blast 3-1, Thomson’s Cabinetry 10-1 and the Folsom Flames 3-1 to earn the 5-seed heading into Memorial Day.
After a 10-3 quarterfinal win over the Pinole Bombers, Hollister was in the semifinals against the Stealth.
The contest went scoreless all the way to the sixth inning, when Cade Vallejo drove in Matt Hawk for the eventual game-winning run.
“That was one of the best games I’ve been involved in,” manager Robert Fabing said.
Chris Manderson and Robert Soto combined for a two-hit shutout on the mound.
“They hit good in the first game,” Soto said. “I pitched better in the second game than in the first game.”
“We knew if we lost another game we wouldn’t make it to Monday,” Manderson said. “We wanted to make it all the way.”
In the championship, Hollister jumped out to a 5-0 lead on the East Bay Cubs and eventually held on for the 5-4 victory.
“They just kept chipping away,” Fabing said. “But we held them in the sixth and won.”
Cody Asp led the Hitmen with a .600 batting average and a .600 on-base percentage. Daniel Gonzales (.476 avg., .522 OBP), Cody Freitas (.467, .500), Robert Soto (.412, .500), Chris Manderson (.400, .444), Cade Vallejo (.300, .364), Tony Diaz (.250, .316), Nathan Alvarez (.222, .222), Josh George (.214, .214), Jordan Lopes (.167, .167), Marcos Perez (.143, .400), Matt Hawk (.125, .222) and Dylan Yamasaki (.111, .111) rounded out the Hitmen.
10U Junior ‘Balers
San Benito went 5-0 and outscored their opponents 48-4 to claim the 10U title.
The Junior ‘Balers defeated the Bay Area Showstoppers 15-0, Monterey Bay 4-2, the Oakland Hurricanes 13-0, the North Bay Dynamite 12-1 and Monterey Bay in the championship 4-1.
“The championship game exemplified the type of game that the Junior Balers played all weekend,” team representative Vincent Parker said. “With sound defense, dominating pitching and good clutch hitting, the Junior ‘Balers managed to beat Monterey Bay in what turned out to be a very close contest.”
Starting pitcher Andrew Sotelo went six innings and allowed just one run. He struck out six in the title game.
Tyler Biersdorff was the tournament MVP after going 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.
After Biersdorff scored on a wild pitch in the second, and Vincent Parker’s groundout plated Daniel Hopkins in the fifth, San Benito scored two insurance runs in the sixth on three hits and three walks.
Biersdorff, Jose Rodriguez and Andrew Sotelo all singled, and Joe Coffelt, Adam Gonzales and Hopkins all forced key walks.
Coached by CR Gonzales, Anthony Sotelo and Jose Rodriguez, this is San Benito’s second win in their last four tournaments.
9U Smashers
San Benito dominated their competition in Sunnyvale over Memorial Day, going 6-0 and outscoring their opponents by a whopping 73-13 margin.
“Our team is a pretty good little team,” coach Frank Soto said. “They came together to play. They’re actually pretty dominant.”
The Smashers opened with a 12-3 win over the Tiburon Pirates, and followed that with a 14-2 victory against the Brentwood Blast. A 16-6 win against the Saratoga Falcons started Sunday off on the right foot, while they finished the day with an 11-0 win against the Bombers Baseball Club.
In Monday’s semifinal, San Benito beat Tiburon again, this time 10-1, and followed with another 10-1 win against the Concord Patriots in the tournament championship.
“That game actually started off good,” Soto said of the championship. “They gave us a challenge.”
Drew Williams was the team MVP, hitting .824 and compiling an on-base percentage of .833. He also hit a pair of home runs.
Matt Hill (.333 avg., .375 OBP), Davonte Butler (.333, .467), Tim Manderson (.579, .579), Izzak Olejnik (.313, .421), Nate Fhurong (.333, .579), Alex Soto (.333, .467), Josh Zanger (.364, .462), Sammy Vicencio (.400, .455), Derek Moeller (.444, .583) and Jake Ito (.250 OBP) rounded out the Smashers.
On the mound, Butler (8IP, 10K, 5R) set the tone against Tiburon in the semifinal, Soto said, while Williams (5IP, 8K, 1R) was “lights out” in the championship as well.
Manderson (4IP, 3K, 5R), Fhurong (3IP, 2K, 1R), Soto (3IP, 5K, 0R), Zanger (2IP, 0K, 1R) and Moeller (2IP, 0K, 0R) also threw well.
“They’re eight- and nine-year-olds that haven’t lost one game,” Soto said.
