Austin Gallagher

The Hopewell 12-Year-Old All-Stars are finishing their final tournament in youth baseball bringing the big bats.

A day after Austin Gallagher and Elliott Mancos homered against the Mon River Mudcats, the Vikings hit three more homeruns this morning.

In the start of hopefully a long day for Hopewell, Gallagher, Kruz Krotec and Rhett Rankin launched homeruns in their 16-6 win over Bauerstown. The bomb from Krotec was a Grand Slam!

With the win, Hopewell advances to the semifinals in the Shaler Tournament.

For the game, Hopewell batters collected 16 hits, including 3 each from Krotec, Gallagher and Wade Enders. RBI getters for the Vikings were Krotec with 6, Rankin with 3, Gallagher with 2 and 1 each from Wes Gigliotti, Enders, Henry Dunn, and Eli Seech.

SCORING SUMMARY:
Bottom of 2nd– Bauerstown took a 1-0 lead but Hopewell countered with two of their own to take the lead. Gallagher led off the inning and on the first pitch he saw, Austin cranked a homerun to right field, the game was tied at 1.

Hopewell’s Austin Gallagher

With 1 out, Colby Cunningham singled to left and went on to steal second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then stole home. Hopewell led 2-1.

Bottom of 3rd– Bauerstown tied the game at 2 in the top of the inning but once again, Hopewell had a response. Gigliotti drew a 1-out walk and quickly stole second base. Then with 2 outs, Enders singled to left field and drove in Gigliotti, Hopewell led 3-2. Next up, Dunn drew a walk, which advanced Enders to second. Gallagher then continued with his hot bat by singling to right field to bring in Enders, Hopewell led 4-2. Rankin stepped to the plate with 2 on and the ‘Rhett Bomb’ hit a bomb to straight away center field to bring in Dunn and Gallagher, Hopewell now led 7-2.

Top of 4th– Bauerstown is a good team and weren’t going to quit. In the 4th they got themselves right back in the game. Brandon Cecchini entered the game with the score now 7-4 and with runners at 2nd and 3rd with 0 out. Brandon did a terrific job by getting three groundball outs to Enders at third base. Bauerstown did score two more runs to make it 7-6 but Hopewell still had the lead.

Bottom of 4th– The Hopewell offense continued to produce and quickly regained a comfortable lead. With 1 out, Cecchini, Seech and Gigliotti drew walks. Then with the bases loaded, Krotec drove a 0-1 pitch to deep left field for a grand slam. Hopewell now led 11-6.

Hopewell’s Kruz Krotec

Top of 5th– HC Dave Gigliotti then brought Krotec in to try and main the lead and Kruz did the job. The inning started with two strikeouts from Krotec, followed by a ground ball out to Elliott Mancos at second base.

Bottom of 5th– Hopewell went to the bottom of the 5th needing 5 runs to end the game (10 run rule) and that’s exactly what they did. With 1 out, Cunningham drew a walk, followed by a single to right by Mancos. Then with 2 outs, Seech stepped up and hit an RBI single to center, driving in Mancos. Hopewell led 12-6. The top of the order stepped to the plate and ended the game. Gigliotti started things with an RBI single to drive in Cecchini. Next up, Krotec continued his monster game with a 2-run single to bring home Seech and Gigliotti. The game then ended as Dunn stroked a single to right, scoring Krotec.

FINAL SCORE- HOPEWELL 16 BAUERSTOWN 6

Good luck in the semifinals Hopewell!

SHALER TOWNSHIP– In the last tournament of their Hopewell Youth Baseball careers, two members of the 12-Year-Old All-Star team had moments that they won’t forget.

Elliott Mancos and Austin Gallagher belted homeruns, their first as Hopewell All-Star players, as the Vikings defeated the Mon River Mudcats, 11-1 in 4 innings.

Gallagher paced Hopewell’s lineup going 2-for-2 with 2 runs and 4 RBIs. Mancos went 1-for-2 with 3 RBIs, Wade Enders went 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs and Kruz Krotec was 1-for-2 with 1 RBI and 3 runs scored.

The Hopewell coaching staff only needed to use their pitchers for 4 innings as Krotec and Enders each went 2 innings. Krotec started and allowed 1 hit, 1 run, while striking out 5 batters. Enders finished things up allowing 1 hit and striking out 4 batters.

SCORING SUMMARY-
Top of 1st: Wes Gigliotti led off the game with a walk and went on to steal 2nd and 3rd base. Gigs then scored as Krotec reached base on a Mon River error. Krotec stole second bae and then scored on an RBI single by Enders, Hopewell led 2-0.

Top of 2nd: Mon River scored a run in the bottom of the 1st but Hopewell quickly added to their lead. Gallagher led off the 2nd with a single to center field, which was followed by a walk to Colby Cunningham. Mon River made a pitching change but Mancos gave him a rude introduction. On a 1-2 pitch, Mancos cranked a ball to deep RF for a 3-run HR, Hopewell led 5-1.

Top of 3rd: Krotec led off the inning with a walk and immediately stole 2nd. For the game, Hopewell players stole 12 bases. Next up, Enders hit a sharp ground ball to left field, which brought in Krotec, Hopewell 6-1.

Hopewell wasn’t done. Henry Dunn then reached on an infield single, which was followed by a walk to Rhett Rankin. Mon River made a pitching change and ironically, the same thing happened with the next batter as it did the first time with Mancos. Gallagher stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and on a 1-0 pitch, Gallagher took the ball the other way and planted it over the right field fence for a GRAND SLAM!! Hopewell 10-1.

Bottom of 3rd: Enders took over for Krotec in the 3rd inning and went on to strike out the side.

Bottom of 4th: Leading 11-1, Enders stayed on for the 4th and finished things up for Hopewell. The first out came on a fly ball to Cunningham in center. Enders then struck out the next batter on 4 pitches. Then after two runners reached, Enders then ended the game by getting a ground ball to Mancos at second.

FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 11 MON RIVER MUDCATS 1

Hopewell will start bracket play tomorrow with a record of 1-1 and they’ll open up play with a 10 AM matchup against Bauerstown.

Hopewell Continues to Bomb HRs in 16-6 Win Over Bauerstown

Mancos and Gallagher Belt HR’s to Lead Hopewell 12-Year-Old All-Stars