The Gilroy All-Stars nine-year-old team handled their first
opponent of the playoffs with ease Monday night, defeating the
Watsonville All-Stars 13-1 at the Gilroy Sports Complex.
By Greg Chapman Staff Writer
Gilroy – The Gilroy All-Stars nine-year-old team handled their first opponent of the playoffs with ease Monday night, defeating the Watsonville All-Stars 13-1 at the Gilroy Sports Complex.
The game was called after three outs in the top of fourth due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Gilroy manager Brent Drysdale said his team lived up to the coach’s forecasts.
“We expected them to play the way they played,” he said.
Drysdale noted the team practiced hard leading up to the tournament and the guys were getting along well.
Gilroy got off to a fast start on defense and offense and cruised to victory. In the top of the first, Chad Hartman struck out the side in order and during their turn at bat Gilroy came out firing.
The first four batters got on base with hits and all came in to score runs. Noah Zertuche started things off with a leadoff single, and a successful bunt by Gary Simmons put runners on first and second with no outs. Zertuche scored the first run, coming home on a nice RBI double by Ryan Citti. After a wild pitch brought in Simmons, Citti scored from third on a single by Hartman. Gilroy led 4-0 after one inning when Hartman scored on a single.
Watsonville looked as if it would threaten Gilroy’s lead in the top of the second inning, loading up the bases with no outs. But one run was all they could score. With the bases loaded, Hartman seemed to come unraveled after a great first inning when he walked a batter to bring a run home, however, he struck out the next batter and a double-play got Gilroy out of the jam.
In the bottom of the second, Gilroy kept the pressure on and after getting the bases loaded with no outs they would score six runs to lead 10-1.
After striking out the first two batters in the third, Hartman was relieved by Alec Cordova who finished the game.
Gilroy tacked on three more runs in the third as the whole team reached base, putting the game out of arm’s reach.
“It was a team effort,” Drysdale said. “All across the board, everybody put the bat on the ball.”
