Hollister American's Robert Soto delivers a pitch against Santa Clara Briarwood Sunday in the Section 5 Championship at Oakridge Little League in San Jose. Briarwood defeated Hollister American, 5-3.
Up against arguably the top left-handed pitcher in Northern California, and with already a loss to their name, the Hollister American 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars met their match Sunday in the Section 5 Championship in San Jose.
Armed with a mid- to high-70s fastball, Garrett Ciuk of Santa Clara Briarwood struck out 15 batters at the Oakridge Little League in San Jose, and paced his squad to a 5-3 victory against Hollister American in the section championship.
But even then, despite the adversity, Hollister American brought the tying run to the plate in the sixth inning.
"See, no one hits [Ciuk]. We had him in the hole," manager Robert Fabing said. "I give our kids credit. They have a passion for baseball."
Trailing 5-2 in the sixth, Robert Soto and Marco Cosio each singled to start, and Soto later scored on a wild pitch at the plate, cutting the deficit to two. Ciuk, though, settled down before getting out of the inning, and the game.
"That kid is one of the best lefties in Northern California and we knew that going in," Fabing said. "He gets it and deals.
"We hit him. We had our chances, but give them credit ... With that lefty on the mound, it's a tough one."
Hollister's lefty, Robert Soto, matched Ciuk, Fabing added. Soto threw 3 and 2/3 innings, striking out four. He gave up five runs - two earned - on just four hits.
Hollister American committed four errors, however.
"The errors killed us, and that's baseball," Fabing said.
Hollister lost by the same 5-3 score to Briarwood Friday in the semifinals. After Cosio threw a one-hit shutout en route to a 6-0 win against Union Saturday in the consolation semifinals, the stage was set for Sunday's championship rematch against Briarwood.
"This bunch of kids," Fabing said, "they won three district championships, second in the section as 12's, and they won the state championship as 10's. I love these guys. They're a good bunch of kids.
"But it's tougher as 12's. You've got a target on your back."
In the home half of the first, Hollister center fielder Cody Cameron made a leaping catch on the warning track to perhaps prevent a home run, but the long fly ball did sacrifice Ciuk home from third base, who previously tripled and gave Briarwood an early 1-0 edge.
Hollister responded in the third with two runs of their own, though, sparked when Cameron and Daniel Gonzales each singled on to start the inning. Consecutive wild pitches from Ciuk first advanced both runners into scoring position, then plated Cameron from third base to tie the game, 1-1.
Later in the inning, Soto, helping his own cause, connected on a sharply-hit grounder that Briarwood's third baseman bobbled, scoring Gonzales from third to give Hollister the go-ahead 2-1 lead.
Briarwood, however, scored two runs in the bottom half of the inning to reclaim the lead, and later added an insurance run in the fourth.
Tony Diaz and Jordan Lopes each supplied relief work for Hollister American, which finishes its postseason run with an 8-2 record and as champions of District 9.
Meanwhile, the Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars were trying to battle their way back through the elimination bracket of the Section 5 Tournament last weekend in Campbell, but unfortunately fell to the team that originally put them there.
After losing 6-4 to Scotts Valley to open the tournament, Hollister National posted victories against Eastridge (23-1) and Union (7-4) before once again meeting Scotts Valley in the consolation semifinals Saturday at Campbell Little League.
Hollister jumped out to a 7-0 lead through three innings, but Scotts Valley began to chip away, eventually grabbing a narrow 11-9 lead heading to the sixth inning.
Hollister forced a pair of walks to start the sixth, and Davonte Butler's RBI single brought the 9- and 10-year-olds to within one, 11-10.
Hollister would load the bases with two outs later in the inning, but couldn't plate the tying run in the end.
"It was a good tournament. It was a good team," manager Anthony Sotelo said of his squad, which won the District 9 championship earlier this month. "We just happened to fall short twice to the same team."
SAN BENITO BABE RUTH
The San Benito Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Stars sit in the semifinals of the Central California State Championships after picking up a pair of wins last weekend against Wasco and Central.
San Benito will now face Arroyo Grande Tuesday at Morrison Field in Orcutt to see who'll advance to the championship round.
After scoring a rather easy 16-3 win against Wasco to open the tournament, San Benito mounted a come-from-behind victory against Central in their second-round match-up on Sunday.
Trailing 3-1 in the seventh inning, San Benito had two outs to their name with runners at first and third base.
But Emmett King's RBI double brought San Benito to within one run, and Sergio Cosio followed with a two-run single to supply the local 14-year-olds with the lead. Adrian Medina's RBI double tacked on an insurance run to give San Benito a 5-3 cushion.
"We didn't give up," manager Joe Ocampo said. "They started picking away and picking away.
"I think it picked up the boys a little more ... I think that will set us up very well for [today's] game, confidence-wise. They didn't give up on the game."
Medina started on the mound, going five innings, and Anthony Ocampo pitched the remaining two to earn the win.
Meanwhile, the San Benito Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars lost their first two games at the Central California State Championships in Northwest Bakersfield last weekend.
Winners of District 1, San Benito's season is complete after falling to Tulare and Lemoore.
Manager Angel Rueda could not be reached for comment at press time.
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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Best in the bus business, again
