Mike Vukovcan South Park– After finishing bracket play with a record of 1-1, the Hopewell 9-Year-Old All-Star team earned a No. 3 seed in the South Park Fastballs and Freedom Tournament.
Tonight, the Vikings earned a rematch with Upper St. Clair, a team they defeated yesterday by the score of 13-3. This second game wasn’t as easy for Hopewell, but they did come away with a 7-6 victory.
With the win, Hopewell advances to the semifinals for a game against No. 2 Washington. The game is scheduled to begin at 9 AM so considering these are 9-year-olds and the distance they have to travel; this will be a challenge.
This was an impressive performance by Hopewell considering this was the first kids pitch All-Star tournament of their young careers.
Also, thumbs up to the way they handled the last couple of innings and as the pressure was on and they got the job done. In particular, pitchers Brody Benson and Aaron Ackerman for handling the pressure of pitching in a late game situation and finishing things off for Hopewell.
Hopewell’s Aaron Ackerman
Hopewell looked like they had this one in check as they held a 7-2 lead with just two innings left. However, USC scored 3 runs in the 5th and 1 in the final inning to make things interesting.
Hopewell trailed 2-1 going to the bottom of the 3rd inning but when the inning was finished, the Vikings led the game by 3 runs.
With 1 out, Ackerman and Maddox Kennedy singled, which was followed by a walk to Bennett Beron to load the bases. All three runners then scored as DJ Towler tripled and would also score on an USC error. Hopewell led 5-2.
In the bottom of the 4th, Tristyn Trkulja led off the inning with a single and came around to score on a double by Jordan Peck. After stealing 3rd base, Peck then scored on a RBI groundout by Jonah Honess, who also hit a RBI sacrifice fly in the 1st inning. Hopewell now led 7-2.
In the top of the 5th, USC scored 3 runs and were threatening to score more as they had a runner at 3rd base with just 1 out. However, Benson came up big by striking out the next two USC batters. Hopewell led 7-5.
In the final inning, Ackerman entered the game with a 2-run lead and was trying to get Hopewell into the semifinals.
Things started out well as he struck out the first batter. After getting two runners on, USC got within one run as they scored on a Hopewell error to make the score 7-6.
The game then ended in dramatic fashion as the USC runner tried to steal third base but Hopewell catcher DJ Towler threw a bullet down to third base to Honess, who applied the tag.
Game Over, Final Score: Hopewell 7 Upper St. Clair 6
WINNING IS FUN (especially in tournaments)!!Â
Get a good night sleep guys and go out tomorrow and pick up two wins!
