Mike Vukovcan EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO– The Hopewell 10-Year-Old All-Star won the South Side Travel Tournament last weekend and traveled today to take part in the River Valley Firecracker Frenzy in East Liverpool, Ohio.
In Game One this morning, the Vikings got blanked by the Follansbee 10U All-Stars, 11-0. The outcome of this game was likely a combination of playing a quality opponent, still coming off the high of winning their opening tournament along with not playing their best.
That meant Hopewell needed to respond in game two today in order to even their record for the day and not be at the bottom of the tournament bracket.
Next up was a game against the Billiant Mustang All-Stars and halfway thru the game, Hopewell faced adversity as the Mustangs came back in the bottom of the 4th to the game at 9-all
Hopewell had two innings to try and rebound and that’s exactly what they did as they scored a combined 12 runs in the top of the 5th and 6th innings to come away with a 21-11 victory.
In a game that scored so many runs, a key part of this game was in the bottom of the 4th inning. the Mustangs had just tied the game at 9 and had two runners on with 2 outs. The Vikings coaching staff brought right-hander Breyson Hoth on to try and keep the game tied. Hoth did exactly that as on the very first pitch he threw, Breyson got the batter to ground out back to the mound.
Then after Hopewell put up 6 runs in the top of the 5th, Hoth went back out and didn’t allow the Mustangs to regain any momentum by getting two more ground outs along with a strikeout.
Scoring 21 runs meant the Hopewell bats were hot as they banged out 20 hits. Leading the way with 3 hits apiece were Lucas Strano, Sean Bain and Bowen Smith. Three Vikings collected 2 hits apiece- Jack Holsinger, Cody Goble and Waylon Phillips.
Congrats to Logan Giering as he continued to carry the big stick by clubbing a 3-run HR. The RBI getters in this game for Hopewell were Giering (3), Bain (3), Smith (3), Phillips (2), Eden Lingenfelter (2), Goble (2), Declan Lavia (1) and Lincoln Cumpston (1).
The Hopewell 10-year-olds will return to action tomorrow as it’ll be single-elimination play for the championship.
Good Luck!!
