Andrew Sotelo watches his second home run of the game fly over the center field fence as he led the National team to a 9-4 win over SLV Sunday morning.
The Hollister National Major Division All-Stars advanced to the Section 5 Tournament championship on Monday night with an 8-3 victory over Saratoga (District 12).
Hollister National, representing District 9, will now await to see which team emerges from the elimination bracket, where District 12 Saratoga and District 39 San Lorenzo Valley will square off on Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Park.
First pitch is 7 p.m.
The championship round is slated for Wednesday at Vets Park at 7 p.m. If Hollister National loses Wednesday's game, a winner-take-all second game is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m.
Hollister National has already played, and defeated, both teams remaining in the elimination bracket, however. Monday night's win over Saratoga followed a 9-4 victory over San Lorenzo Valley on Sunday.
In that game, Andrew Sotelo staked National out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he belted a solo homer over the left-center field fence, then later padded Hollister's lead with a three-run blast over the center-field wall in the second inning to make it 4-0.
Sotelo was intentionally walked twice later in the game.
Meanwhile, starting pitcher Joshua Ramos held SLV in check, and didn't allow a hit or a run until the fourth inning when Hollister held a 5-0 lead.
SLV cut it to 5-3 in the top of the fourth, but Hollister responded when Ramos and John Barrientos connected on RBI singles in the home half, pushing National out to a 9-3 lead - a lead it would not relinquish.
Sotelo, Davonte Butler and Tyler Biersdorff also pitched in relief for Hollister National.
Hollister Junior League
The Hollister Junior League All-Stars advanced to the Section 5 Tournament championship on Monday when they defeated District 44 representative Los Altos by a 5-3 margin.
It was the second straight win for Hollister, which beat District 12 representative Lincoln Glenn 12-1 on Saturday.
Hollister will now play in Wednesday's championship round against either Lincoln Glenn or Los Altos. The title game will take place Wednesday at Fair Oaks Park in Sunnyvale at 6:30 p.m. If Hollister loses, a winner-take-all second game will be played on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
Following Saturday's comfortable victory, Monday's contest against Los Altos saw Hollister take a 2-0 lead, fall behind 3-2, then leapfrog the District 44 representative in the fifth inning.
Hollister's Cody Freitas made it a 1-0 game in the first when he connected on an RBI infield single that scored Daniel Gonzales from third base, while Dylan Yamasaki drove in Connor Menez with a two-out RBI single in the second to make it 2-0.
Menez reached base earlier in the inning with a double.
After Los Altos claimed the lead with a three-run third inning, Hollister grabbed the lead for good in the fifth when Yamasaki and Chris Cook singled on and Gonzales followed with a base on balls. With the bases loaded, Freitas then connected on a two-out, two-RBI base hit to left field that put the Junior League All-Stars up by a narrow 4-3 margin.
Hollister then tacked on some insurance in the seventh when Yamasaki hit an RBI double - his fourth hit of the game - to score Jordan Lopes from second base.
Strarting pitcher Robert Soto tossed the maximum 95 pitches over 5.1 innings, allowing all three runs in the third after a walk and hitting two batters. Soto was otherwise solid, though, allowing just four hits while striking out eight batters.
Greg Steinbeck pitched the remainder of the sixth inning for Hollister in relief, while Lopes tossed the last inning for the save.
Hollister American 10-11
The Hollister American 10- and 11-year-old All-Stars were eliminated from Section 5 contention on Sunday when they lost 11-7 to District 59 representative Gilroy National.
Hollister American went 0-2 at the tournament in Saratoga. On Saturday, Hollister American lost its opener to District 39 representative Scotts Valley by a narrow 8-7 score.
"It could have gone either way," said manager Frank Soto, whose team had bases loaded in the last inning when Scotts Valley's shortstop ended the threat with a strong defensive play up the middle. "The kids played extremely tough. It was a heckuva game."
The narrow defeat was followed with an 11-7 loss to Gilroy National, though. Hollister fell behind 3-0, fought back to tie it at 3-all, but Gilroy grabbed a 4-3 edge and never looked back.
"They worked hard from start to finish," Soto said. "Every obstacle that came in front of them, they overcame it.
"They had a great time and we had a great time coaching."
Hollister National 9-10
The Hollister National 9- and 10-year-old All-Stars advanced to the Section 5 Tournament championship on Monday night with a 10-5 victory over District 44 representative Union.
The victory places National into Wednesday's championship with an undefeated record. Hollister opened the tournament with a 6-2 win against Santa Cruz National last Saturday.
Hollister National, representing District 9, will play either Union or Santa Clara in Wednesday's championship round, which is scheduled for Milpitas National Little League at 5:30 p.m. If Hollister National loses Wednesday's contest, a winner-take-all second game will be played on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
Monday's victory over Union saw Hollister National jump out to a 6-1 lead through three innings of play, highlighted by a four-run third inning.
Ryan Quinby led off the third with a triple to right field and later scored on a Javier Valdez fielder's choice. Macen Marquez then later came up with two runners in scoring position and connected on a two-RBI single, while Isaiah Bueno later followed with an RBI single.
Union battled back to make it 6-4 after hitting four consecutive doubles in the home half of the third, but Hollister National responded in the fifth with three more runs.
Marquez singled on in the fifth to set up an RBI triple from Ryan Platero, an RBI double from Bueno and a ground-rule RBI double from Tyler Triano.
Hollister added a run in the sixth to make it a 10-5 ball game.
Platero tossed 4.1 innings on the mound for National, while teammate Ryan Jameson closed out the game in relief.
San Benito 16-18s
Playing in the Central California State Tournament last week, the San Benito Babe Ruth 16- to 18-year-old All-Stars went 0-2, dropping games to Hanford and Delano.
San Benito lost its tournament opener to Hanford by an 18-4 margin, then fell in its first game of the elimination bracket, losing 8-7 to Delano.
Hanford, meanwhile, advanced to the tournament championship before falling to Modesto for the title.
San Benito 15s
The San Benito Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars were eliminated from the state tournament on Sunday with a narrow 5-4 loss to Tulare.
San Benito went 1-2 at the state tournament in Fowler.
The local 15-year-old All-Stars opened the tournament last Friday with another one-run loss - a 7-6 defeat against San Luis Obispo. San Benito was then moved to the elimination bracket on Saturday, when it topped Santa Maria 12-0, but followed the comfortable win with its second loss to Tulare.
San Benito 14s
The San Benito Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Stars suffered their first loss of the state tournament on Monday when they dropped an 11-0 decision to Santa Maria at Veterans Memorial Park.
The loss followed a pair of wins for San Benito, which defeated both Madera and Tulare to open the tournament.
The local 14-year-olds will now square off in semifinals of the elimination bracket on Tuesday night. San Benito will play Central at Vets Park, with the winner advancing to Wednesday's championship round.
First pitch is 7 p.m.
San Benito 13s
The San Benito Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars remained alive in the state tournament in Santa Maria on Monday night, picking up a pair of wins over Selma and host Santa Maria.
The local 13-year-olds defeated Selma 9-6 and Santa Maria 8-3, one day after topping Hanford by a 15-9 margin.
It was San Benito's third straight win through the elimination bracket. The team opened the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Taft on Saturday.
Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader saw San Benito fall behind to Selma by a 6-2 margin through five innings of play. But the locals plated two runs in the sixth and five runs in the seventh to leapfrog Selma.
Manager Adam Breen said the story of the tournament "has been using a lot of arms to get through a lot of innings on the mound." In fact, against Hanford and Selma, San Benito used five pitchers in each game.
That wasn't the case against host Santa Maria, however. Tommy Hernandez had six available innings remaining, and the 13-year-old hurler went all six innings, with Jacob Trujillo tossing the seventh to preserve the win.
San Benito jumped out to a 5-0 lead over Santa Maria through two innings of play, and cruised to a five-run victory over the host team.
San Benito will play again on Tuesday at 6 p.m. against either Madera or Orcutt, with the winner advancing to Wednesday's championship round.
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