In a rematch of last year’s Hollister Little League major
national championship game, the Nationals hit six homeruns and
defeated the Cardinals 9-7 in extra innings at Vet’s Park Tuesday
night.
In a rematch of last year’s Hollister Little League major national championship game, the Nationals hit six homeruns and defeated the Cardinals 9-7 in extra innings at Vet’s Park Tuesday night.
The Nationals, managed by Adam Breen and coached by John Hernandez and Mike Martinez, now advance to the single-elimination District 9 Tournament of Champions, where they will face Hartnell Little League of Salinas on Saturday. The Hollister American League champion Yankees face Soledad Little League in opening round TOC action Saturday.
Tuesday’s game matched up the first-half champion Cards against the second-half champ Nationals. The Cards, who won last year’s championship over the Nationals, brought a 19-3 record into the game against the 18-4 Nationals.
The Nationals struck in the top of the first inning on a leadoff homerun by Tommy Hernandez, a solo shot by Andrew Breen and a run-scoring single by Frankie Gutierrez. The Cards responded with four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to take a 4-3 lead after one.
The Nationals tacked on two more when Gutierrez hit a homerun in the top of the third inning. The Cards responded with a run in the home half of the inning to tie the score at 5-5, where it remained until the top of the seventh, when Hernandez and Breen each hit their second homeruns of the game to put the Nationals up 7-5. It was the 15th homerun of the year for league-leader Hernandez and the 11th of the year for Breen, who took second in last weekend’s annual homerun derby behind Andrew Sotelo of the Diamondbacks.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Cards used four walks and a fielder’s choice to tie the score at 7-7 and send the game to the eighth, during which neither team scored. In the top of the ninth, a single by Jacob Trujillo was followed by Gutierrez’s second homerun of the game, pushing the Nationals’ lead to 9-7 heading to the bottom of the inning.
Trujillo retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, allowed a single, and then got a groundout to seal the victory for the Nationals, who will play at 10 a.m. Saturday at Gonzales Little League.
