Mike Vukovcan ELLWOOD CITY– After starting out the Ellwood City All-Star Tournament with wins on Saturday over Ellwood City and Blackhawk, Hopewell’s first opponent in bracket play was rematch with Ellwood City.
Yesterday, Hopewell defeated Ellwood, 13-11 and today, those two teams played another great game, unfortunately, it didn’t go Hopewell’s way.
This was a back-and-forth battle the entire way as the kids from Hopewell never quit despite being down multiple times throughout the game. However, Ellwood City scored a run in the top of the 7th inning that proved to be the difference.
Ellwood jumped out to a 7-2 lead, but the Vikings continued to respond with multiple run innings of their own to keep the game close.
Game Summary:
Bottom of 1st: Ellwood City scored 5 runs in the top of the 1st but Hopewell responded with 2 of their own. With 2 outs, Bennett Beron was hit by a pitch and then scored on a triple by Jonah Honess, who then also scored on a throw by the Ellwood City defender. EC led after one 5-2.
Bottom of 2nd: Ellwood scored 2 more run in the top of the 2nd, but Hopewell put up a 3 spot in the bottom of the frame. After Quinn Zappas singled to lead off the inning, he would eventually score following a wild pitch and 2 errors by EC. Hopewell scored two more runs, highlighted by an RBI double by Jordan Peck. EC led 7-5.
Bottom of 3rd: Ellwood continued to score as they added two to make it 9-5 but the Vikings did the same. Honess was hit to lead off the single, which was followed by a single by Maddox Kennedy. After a wild pitch advanced both runners, Honess would score on an RBI groundout by Zappas. Next up, DJ Towler hit an RBI double to score Kennedy. EC continued to lead by 2, 9-7.
Bottom of 4th: For the third straight inning, EC would score 2 runs to increase their lead to 11-7. But guess what, Hopewell wouldn’t die as they put 3 runs on the scoreboard. The first two runs came in on an RBI triple by Bennett Beron. Next batter, Honess would single in Beron. Hopewell trailed just 11-10 after 4 innings.
**For the first time in the game, neither teams would score so we went to the last inning with Hopewell trailing by one.
Bottom of the 6th: Hopewell entered the last inning needing a run to tie or two to win. Things didn’t look good as the first two batters were retired. However, Honess walked with 2 outs. Next up, Maddox Kennedy laced a ball into the left-center gap which scored Honess all the way from first. The game was tied at 11.
**However, Ellwood City scored a run, and Hopewell tried to answer as they got a runner to second with 2 outs but weren’t able to bring him in.
FINAL SCORE: ELLWOOD CITY 12 HOPEWELL 9-YEAR-OLD ALL-STARS 11 (7 INNINGS)
