Mike Vukovcan SOUTHSIDE– After starting out the South Side Summer Slam Classic All-Star tournament on Saturday with wins over Findlay Township and Central Valley, the Hopewell 8-Year Old team opened up elimination play this morning.
This morning, the Vikings had a rematch with Central Valley and came away with a 9-3 victory to advance to the semifinals.
Although they didn’t score as many runs as they did on Saturday, Hopewell bats remained hot as they collected 22 hits.
Hopewell jumped out to an 8-3 lead after two innings and played tremendous defense the remaining four innings to take home the victory.
After CV scored a run in the top of the 1st inning, Hopewell answered with 3 runs of their own.
Grayden McNally remained hot by reaching on a single, which was followed by singles by Declan Rinaldi and Trent Michael. With the bases loaded and 0 out, cleanup hitter Brody Tournay singled to left to score McNally. With 1 out and the bases loaded, Hudson Lavia singled, which brought in Michael and Hopewell led 2-1.
Moving ahead to the bottom of the second with the score tied at 3, with 2 on and 1 out, Rinaldi doubled to left field to bring in August Arostegui and Colton Eiler, who both singled. Hopewell went back ahead 5-3. Later in the inning with 2 on and 1 out, Tournay singled to drive in Rinaldi, Hopewell now led 6-3.
Hopewell wasn’t done in the second inning, as Mason Thumm doubled in Michael, which was followed by an RBI single by Hudson Lavia, Hopewell led 8-3 after two.
From then on, the story of the game was Hopewell’s defense as they shut out CV for the remaining four innings.
The Central Valley hitters were putting the ball in play and forcing Hopewell’s fielders to make plays which they did. Over the remaining four innings, 11 of the last 12 outs were recorded in the field. Nice job Hopewell!!
Taking a look at the boxscore, Rinaldi, Tournay and Harper Lavia led the Vikings with 3 hits apiece. Five Hopewell hits recorded 2 hits in this game- Michael, Thumm, Hudson Lavia, Eiler and Cam Winiarski.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 9 CENTRAL VALLEY 3
Hopewell will be back in action at 3 PM for a semifinal matchup against an opponent TBA.
