The 8/9 Gilroy All-Stars lose first game of tournament but still
have chance at title, Boys’ Majors and 11-year-olds knocked out
District 39
Boys’ Majors
After going 3-1 in All-Star play, the Boys’ Majors All-Stars hit a road bump Monday night.
Despite starting to rally back from a 9-1 deficit in the bottom of the fourth, the Majors’ All-Stars fell 9-6 to Capitola-Soquel, finishing fourth out of 12 teams in District 39 play.
Capitola-Soquel jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. But Gilroy’s Bryant Cid got on base in the bottom of the third inning, stole third base and eventually scored on a passed ball to cut Capitola-Soquel’s lead to 2-1.
“We were hitting the ball well but we were hitting it right at everybody,” said Majors’ manager Jim Pirnik.
While Gilroy struggled, Capitola-Soquel blew the game wide open with a 7-run fourth inning, which included a 3-run home run.
To help stop the bleeding, Gilroy switched to pitcher Peter Hilkene. The moved worked.
“He finally controlled their bats,” Pirnik said. “We went 1-2-3 in the fifth.”
Gilroy scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it 9-4. In the sixth, the hitting continued with doubles from Michael Pirnik and Scott Willard. The result was two more runs.
Cid nearly continued the rally with a single, but was caught off-base trying to stretch it into a double.
“We were almost there,” Pirnik said. “We definitely felt the mojo, but we didn’t quite get there.”
The team kicked off All-Star play July 8 by defeating Live Oak 7-1. Pitcher Raphael Garcia threw a complete game. Live Oak’s only run was off a home run in the third inning.
In their second game, the Majors All-Stars held off a late attack by Salsipuedes to win 4-3. Gilroy held control until the sixth inning when Salsi hit back-to-back home runs, its second and third homers of the game.
In response, Gilroy went to pitcher Brandon Pickens. The very next Salsipuedes batter nearly hit another home run, but was thrown out at second base. The Gilroy All-Stars then made a key play at first to get out of the inning and preserve the win.
On Tuesday July 11, the Majors All-Stars went up against the highly-touted Watsonville American team.
Gilroy put ace Garcia on the mound once again to contend with the solid Watsonville team. He had a shut out going into the fourth inning before Watsonville scored its one and only run of the game on a solo home run. The 1-0 loss sent Gilroy into the losers’ bracket.
That brought up the All-Stars’ most exciting game, a matchup with Scotts Valley Thursday. Gilroy came out on top 8-3.
With Cid the starter on the mound, Gilroy took a 4-1 lead in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, the offense continued and Gilroy scored four more runs.
Boys’ 11-year-olds
The Gilroy 11-year-old All-Stars found out just how tough the final four can be.
Despite its best effort, the Gilroy team dropped its final two games of the District 39 All-Star tournament to finish in third place out of 12 teams.
On Saturday, the team was shut out 11-0 by Scotts Valley. The All-Stars couldn’t rebound on Monday, losing its second game of the double-elimination tournament 18-2 to Aptos.
“They were total awesome teams,” said 11-year-old All-Star manager Ruben Reyes about the Scotts Valley and Aptos squads.
But the manager was happy with the way his Gilroy team battled.
“One thing is they hanged tough,” Reyes said. “They didn’t get down on each other and took it like a good ball club.”
In Monday’s loss, Travis Franco and Casey Olechnowicz each had two hits. Niko Fortino, Austin Guerrero, Marcus Medina, and Kevin Willard each accounted for a hit apiece.
On defense, Alex Moroudas had two outstanding catches in center field.
Boys’ 8-/9-year-old American
The 8-/9-year-old American All-Stars made a late rally in the sixth inning, but it wasn’t enough to take down Scotts Valley Monday night.
The Gilroy team fell 7-5 in Scotts Valley for its first loss of the All-Star tournament. The All-Stars, who will face Salsipuedes next on Wednesday at 5:30pm, need to win their next three games to take first place. If the team loses to Salsipuedes, it will finish in third place.
Gilroy found itself down 7-2 heading into the top of the sixth inning. Phillip Castro started off the sixth with a single to start a three-run inning. Joe Vanni later hit a triple to drive in two of those runs and bring Gilroy to within 7-5. But that was all the offense Gilroy would get.
“It was one of those tough games,” said manager Vic Vanni.
Justin Hale and Brendan Reimer shared pitching duties.
