Gilroy’s American League Minors (9-10) All Star team finished
its tournament run as one of the top four teams in the 12-team
District 39 tournament last week.
Gilroy’s American League Minors (9-10) All Star team finished its tournament run as one of the top four teams in the 12-team District 39 tournament last week.
Noah Zertuche, Alec Cordova, Darius Alexander-Jones, Sean VanWoerkom, Jonathan Large and Bryan Easton all pitched for Gilroy American in the tournament. Gilroy’s offense was led by Makaio Duyao (.466, 7-for-15), Alexander-Jones (.437, 7-for-16), Mike Sosa (.400, 4-for-10), and Darren Santos (.384, 5-for-13).
After dropping the first game of the tournament 8-1 to Scotts Valley, Gilroy American rebounded with a 7-3 win against Live Oak. Alexander-Jones led the offense (2-for-4), and pitchers Zertuche (4 IP) and Large (2 IP) combined to give up only one earned run. Gilroy broke the game open in the third inning, scoring four runs on two walks, a double by Nick Zertuche and hits by Duyao and Santos.
Gilroy American then faced the Gilroy National team in an all-Gilroy elimination game, and pulled out a come-from-behind 7-6 victory. Gilroy American was behind 6-2 through four and a half innings, but scored five runs in the bottom half of the fifth. Four walks in the inning forced in one run, and with the bases loaded and two outs, Sosa singled to right field, scoring three runs, followed by a hit to center by Duyao that brought home Sosa from second base for the go-ahead run. Nick Zertuche preserved the victory with a sliding catch in center field in the top of the sixth, which robbed the National squad’s Richie Rios of a game-tying hit, stranding the tying runner, Jordan Fernandez, at third to end the game.
On Wednesday, Gilroy American found itself trailing again, this time by a score of 8-2 against Watsonville National. Gilroy rebounded once again, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth on doubles by Alexander-Jones, Duyao, and Santos, and a hit by Nick Zertuche. The team got six more runs in the fifth off of hits by Santos, Sosa, Nick Zertuche, Cordova, and another double by Duyao. Duyao and Alexander-Jones both were 4-for-4 in the game, and Sosa, Nick Zertuche, and Santos were 2-3, respectively. Noah Zertuche got the win for Gilroy, giving up no earned runs over the final two innings.
Gilroy American’s final game was a 9-5 loss against Aptos on Thursday. Aptos took a commanding 9-0 lead into the sixth inning. Gilroy’s only hits up to that point were singles from Erik Ornduff and Noah Zertuche, but the squad managed to score five runs in the bottom of the sixth on hits by Sosa, Cordova and Santos. Sean VanWoerkom put in a strong pitching effort in relief, allowing two earned runs in 3.1 innings, while striking out five and walking one batter.
Manager Bob Santos and Coach Jeff Cordova were both pleased with how the team performed in the tournament.
“The kids battled really hard and never gave up,” Santos said, “even when we were behind by four, six, and nine runs in the last three games.”
