In a hard-fought pitching duel Saturday, the Rangers beat the
A’s 3-2 in six innings to earn the title of Gilroy Little League
Boys Minors champions.
GILROY – In a hard-fought pitching duel Saturday, the Rangers beat the A’s 3-2 in six innings to earn the title of Gilroy Little League Boys Minors champions.
The Rangers and A’s finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the regular season, and they were forced to start their playoff runs against each one another on June 2. The Rangers beat the A’s in the first game of the the playoffs and went on to best the Rays, putting themselves in the June 10 title game.
The A’s tore up the consolation bracket to get back to the championship game against the Rangers. With one more loss meaning elimination, the A’s beat the Angles on Monday, the Jays on Tuesday and the Rays on Wednesday.
Alex Benivedes earned the win during last Tuesday’s game, and Larry Chacon and Jarod Boles shared pitching duties in Wednesday’s game. Other major contributors for the A’s included Connor Doyle, Avery Trevino, Brian Hinz, Mark Sosa, Nick Wyatt and Eric Heiser, amongst others.
Having to play so many game to qualify for the championship, the A’s were nearly out of pitchers by the time they took on the Rangers for the title on Thursday.
But the A’s continued their hot streak by beating the Rangers 6-5 in an extra-inning contest, forcing a second championship game Saturday in the double-elimination tourney. Tommy Castro, who was free to pitch after resting for two games, went five innings for the A’s and allowed no runs to score. Connor Doyle came in to relieve Castro after pitching only a few innings all season.
In the seventh inning, the A’s went ahead for a nail-biting victory.
The well-matched teams played six tough innings Saturday, which eventually went the Rangers’ way. Playing great on defense, the Rangers limited the A’s to just two hits. The Rangers’ Brendon Ellis pitched a complete game, throwing only 64 pitches while striking out eight and allowing no walks. Offensively, the the Rangers were carried by five hits.
The Boys Minors Rangers will now move on to the Tournament of Champions for District 39, which will be played in San Juan Bautista.
