Mike Vukovcan SOUTH SIDE– The All-Star season is underway for teams in the Hopewell Vikings Youth Baseball season. Over the next month, players in various age levels will begin competing in a number of All-Star Tournaments across Western Pennsylvania.
This weekend, teams in the Hopewell 8-year-old and 10-year-old divisions started competing in tournaments and enjoyed plenty of success.
Established in 1986, family owned and serving the Beaver County community for over 40 years. Serving breakfast favorites and lunch specials.
The Vikings 8-year-old team started action in the South Side Summer Slam Classic on Friday night and Saturday morning and came away with 2 impressive wins!
Last night, Hopewell defeated Findlay Township, 18-15 and this morning, the Vikings beat Central Valley, 17-3.
RECAP OF WIN OVER FINDLAY TOWNSHIP:
This was a high-scoring game, but the difference was Hopewell’s top of the order. The top five batters in Hopewell’s lineup (Grayden McNally, Declan Rinaldi, Trent Michael, Brody Tournay and Mason Thumm) were a combined 17-19, 14 runs and 15 RBIs. Congrats to Tournay and McNally who hit 3 HR’s (over the fence). Brody hit 2, while Grayden hit one.
The Hopewell batters were able to bang out 23 hits and were led by McNally and Michael, who each collected 4 hits apiece. Three Viking players had 3 hit nights, Rinaldi, Tournay and Thumm.
Tournay was the cleanup hitter, and he certainly did his job by collecting 7 RBI’s, including those 2 home runs. McNally and Thumm each had 3 RBIs, while Rinaldi and Michael had two.
Hopewell jumped out to a 9-7 lead after 2 innings, but Findlay scored 2 runs in the top of the 4th to tie things up. However, the Vikings scored 4 in the bottom of the 4th and after holding Findlay scoreless in the top of the 5th, Hopewell came back with 5 more in the bottom of the 5th to take a 18-9 lead.
The big shot in the 4th inning was a 3-run HR by McNally to a give Hopewell a 12-9 lead. Then in the 5th inning, Tournay clubbed a grand slam to center field to give Hopewell a 18-9 lead.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 18 FINDLAY TOWNSHIP 15
RECAP OF WIN OVER CENTRAL VALLEY:
What 24 hours for Brody Tournay. After hitting two home runs on Friday night, Brody came back this morning and hit two more!! In two games, Tourney went a combined 7 for 8 with 4 HR’s and 11 RBIs. All 4 of the home runs were over the fence.
The Vikings jumped out a 11-0 lead and ever looked back as they scored runs in all 5 innings. Despite only playing 5 innings, Hopewell’s batters collected 28 hits.
Leading the team with 4 hits apiece were Tournay, Declan Rinaldi and Hudson Lavia. Grayden McNally, Trent Michael and August Arostegui both had 3 hits.
In terms of RBI leaders, Tournay led the way with 4, Rinaldi and Arostegui each had 3 and Trent Michael, Mason Thumm, Hudson Lavia and Obie DeCanio registered 2 apiece.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 17 CENTRAL VALLEY 3
WINNING IS FUN (especially in tournaments)!!
The Hopewell 8-year-old team will be back in action tournament in elimination play. Good luck boys!
