Hollister National players surround Daniel Hopkins on Saturday after he connected on the game-winning hit to defeat Tri-City 3-2 in the NorCal Division II Tournament in Vacaville.
Having to battle from behind really wasn't something Hollister National had experienced entering the NorCal Division II Tournament last weekend in Vacaville. Although in the rare instances that it had, it managed to find a way to win.
The District 9 championship, in which National fought back from a 4-0 deficit against Hollister American en route to a 5-4 victory, certainly comes to mind.
It's perhaps the one and only case, though.
"But we're always playing as a team," said National pitcher/shortstop Andrew Sotelo. "And that's good."
Indeed. Dealt with a 2-0 deficit against Tri-City on Saturday to open the Division II tourney, a game in which the boys in blue were no-hit until the bottom of the fifth inning, Hollister National fought back to tie it at 2-all when Daniel Hopkins connected on the game-winning, walk-off hit in the sixth en route to a 3-2 victory.
One day later against San Ramon, Hollister National again fell behind 1-0, only to come from behind again with a 5-2 win.
"These kids, they're scrappy kids, and they're gonna swing the bat," National manager Anthony Sotelo said. "They may be little, but they've got big hearts, and our hearts are always in the game."
National now sits just two wins away from the Division II crown in the Major Division. Hollister will face off against Section 1 representative Napa National in Tuesday's semifinal round, with the winner advancing to Thursday's championship.
Napa National received a first-round bye to start the tournament, but defeated Section 6 representative River Park on Sunday by a 4-2 margin to advance to the semifinals.
"A great hitting team," Sotelo said of Napa. "They put the ball in play a lot more."
For Hollister National, putting the ball in play didn't come that easily on Saturday against Tri-City Little League, located in Rocklin.
Tri-City's A.J. Sauer allowed no hits through three innings, striking out six, although the no-hit bid didn't prevent Hollister from scoring runs.
After Tri-City took a 2-0 lead through two innings - Garrett Kauppila led off the game with a solo home run - National took advantage of a pair of walks in the third to tie the game.
Davonte Butler led off the inning with a base on balls, and then stole both second and third before Elijah Changco drew a walk as well. Changco stole second to make it a second-and-third situation when Drew Williams grounded into a fielder's choice off reliever Aidan Malm to score Butler from third. Tyler Biersdorff's grounder to short then resulted in a throwing error, scoring Changco and knotting the game at 2-all.
Meanwhile, Hollister starting pitcher Joshua Ramos kept what appeared would be a high-scoring ball game to a low-scoring one. The right-handed hurler allowed two runs - one earned - through two innings, but kept Tri-City scoreless until he was pulled in the fifth inning.
The relief pitcher Biersdorff acted as the perfect counter to Ramos, who allowed four hits and struck out five. Biersdorff's delivery was slow and methodical, forcing Tri-City to frequently ask for timeout.
He didn't allow a hit in two innings pitched, striking out four.
"Those two guys," Sotelo said of Ramos and Biersdorff, "they're always calm. They do the job and they're not startled. Coach (T.J. Williams) gets them mentally prepared for the games."
Ramos, though, who was looking to redeem himself after allowing the first-inning home run, led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to straightaway center field.
"You can't let that bother you - just pay attention to the game," Ramos said. "I felt good."
Courtesy runner John Barrientos then came into the game, and immediately advanced to third on a sac bunt from Ryan Medrano.
With the winning run on third, Daniel Hopkins then took the first pitch he saw - a fastball - and connected on a hard-hit grounder that ricocheted off the shortstop and allowed Barrientos to score.
"I was nervous to hit, nervous going up," Hopkins said after hitting the walk-off. "I was wanting a fastball to start off the at-bat, and I hit a fastball."
Hopkins leapt into the arms of coach Williams after the improbable win, which saw Hollister connect on just two hits.
"We kind of hung our shoulders through the first four innings," Sotelo said. "A lot of it had to do with the heat, a lot had to do with that first-inning home run and the run in the second.
"I told them they have the heart. They've just got to find the drive to keep going."
Sotelo could have delivered that statement on Sunday as well, although the team's quarterfinal victory over San Ramon was more reflective of National's play of late.
Although San Ramon scored in the opening frame off starting pitcher Andrew Sotelo, the narrow lead was short-lived. Hollister responded in the home half when both Sotelo and Drew Williams led off with back-to-back singles, and Ramos followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 1-all.
Hollister then pulled ahead for good in the third when it plated a pair of runs. A Biersdorff walk preceded a catcher's interference call, allowing Ramos to reach base, when two consecutive pitches in the dirt allowed Davonte Butler to score. Russell Enz then smacked an RBI single up the middle to put Hollister ahead 3-1.
Keeping things interesting, San Ramon's Jake Ackerman lifted a solo homer to deep center field in the ensuing frame off Sotelo, cutting Hollister's lead to one run. But Sotelo, who didn't reach his pitch-count limit until the final out of the game - reliever Ian Dobbs recorded the final out - pitched near lights-out baseball for the final three innings.
Of the 10 batters he faced in the last three frames, Sotelo struck out eight of them, including the side in both the fourth and fifth innings.
He finished with 10 strikeouts in the game.
"I didn't pitch too good in the first inning, but I started pitching better throughout the game," Sotelo said afterward. "(After the home run), I still trusted my team that they'd stop each ball that was hit to them and that we'd get them back at a later inning."
National did get San Ramon back later in the game, and it was Sotelo himself who provided the insurance. With Dobbs on first and two outs in the bottom of the fifth, Medrano singled on and Changco was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Sotelo, who lined a two-RBI single down the third-base line and pushed National out to a three-run lead.
"Anytime you can add two runs late in the game, it's good," said the manager Sotelo, whose team will look to keep its current winning streak in tact on Tuesday night when it will play Napa National at Vacaville's Centennial Park. First pitch is 8 p.m.
Tyler Biersdorff is expected to start for Hollister National.
"This is something special," Sotelo added. "Hopefully we can keep it going."
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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