Connor Reed

Hopewell’s/Team Hoffman continued their perfect week last night with an impressive 6-2 win over Central Valley.

This was Hopewell’s third game in 3 days, and the Vikings have won all three games. Their week isn’t finished as they’ll be tested tonight as they have to travel to take on Riverside.

When you’re forced to play this many games in a row, your pitching depth becomes challenged because of the pitch count all these players are on. Fortunately for Coach Chip Hoffman and his staff, they’re blessed to have a roster full of players that can pitch.

On Tuesday, Connor Reed, Liam Rankin and Vin Smetana took the mound for Hopewell. On Wednesday, it was Channing Yesionek and Rhett Rankin. Last night, Tyler Hoffman and Rhett Rankin were able to limit CV to just 4 hits, while striking out 10 batters.

Central Valley gave Hopewell their biggest test of the season as this game was tied 2-2 as we went to the bottom of the 6th inning. Hopewell was able to plate 4 runs to re-take the lead and earned them the victory.

RECAPPING HOPEWELL’S 4-RUN 6TH INNING:
-Reed led off with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and then stole third. Following walks to Hoffman and Liam Rankin and an out, Kruz Krotec came up with the big hit of the game, a 2-run double to left field, which scored Reed and Hoffman. Then with 2 outs and a walk to Dom Yannessa, Rhett Rankin drew a walk to score pinch-runner Ethan Bollinger. Krotec then scored on a passed ball and Hopewell took a 6-2 lead.

Hopewell’s Kruz Krotec

STRONG DEFENSE BY HOPEWELL:
-A day after committing 3 errors, Hopewell cleaned things up by playing an error free game.

1ST Inning: Yannessa caught two fly balls to right field and Yesionek brought in a pop up to second base.

2ND Inning: Smetana caught a line out and Krotec ended the second inning by catching a fly ball to center.

4TH Inning: Yeionek turned an unassisted double play to second base to clean things up in this inning after CV lead off with a walk.

5TH Inning: No defense needed in the fifth as Hoffman took care of things himself by striking out the side.

6TH Inning: Hoffman and Rankin both struck out a batter in the sixth before the frame ended on a ground out to Austin Gallagher at third.

7TH Inning: Smetana recorded the first out of the final inning with a fielder’s choice and the game ended like it started on a fly ball to Yannessa in right field.

On the mound: Hoffman pitched 5.1 innings, allowing 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 4 walks and 8 strike outs. Rankin closed out the game by going 1.2 innings, allowing just 1 hit, 0 runs and striking out 2.

Hopewell’s Tyler Hoffman

HOPEWELL OFFENSIVE BOXSCORE:
*The Hopewell hitters collected 8 hits and 6 talks in the game. Reed, Hoffman and Krotec led the way with 2 hits apiece. Smetana and Bennett Tomei also recorded a hit a piece.

With the win, Hopewell improves to 4-0 and will look to remain undefeated as they take on Riverside (2-1).

HERE’S A LOOK AT THE UPDATED STANDINGS IN THE WESTERN PA PONY LEAGUE
Hopewell/Team Hoffman: 4-0
Blackhawk: 4-0-1
Riverside/Giles: 4-1
New Brighton: 3-1
Riverside/Linville: 2-1
Beaver/Marino: 2-2
CV1: 2-2
Blackhawk/DePietro: 2-2
Ambridge: 1-2
CV 2: 0-2-1
Blackhawk/Litzinger: 1-3
Hopewell/Team Dunn: 0-3-1
Beaver/Eimiller: 0-3-1
Beaver Falls: 0-3

TONIGHT:
Hopewell/Team Hoffman vs. Riverside/Linville
Hopewell/Team Dunn vs. Blackhawk/DePietro

SOUTH SIDE– The Hopewell Vikings Pony League (Team Reed) team took on South Side tonight and it turned into a pitcher’s duel.

Both teams combined for just 9 hits and 3 runs, thankfully for Hopewell they scored one more run than South Side, enroute to a 2-1 win. With the win, Team Reed improves their record on the season to 4-1-1.

For the Vikings, Connor Reed and Liam Rankin were dominant and completely shut down the Rams. Reed got the start and went 4 innings, allowing just 3 hits, 1 earned run and struck out 6 batters. Rankin entered in the 5th and went the rest of the way, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 4 batters.

Reed and Rankin were helped by solid defense as Hopewell committed just one error and made the plays behind their pitcher.

GAME RECAP-
Bottom of the 1st– Hopewell took a 1-0 lead in the Top of the 1st inning on a RBI groundout by Andrew Arzberger. South Side looked like they were going to at least tie the game in the bottom of the inning, but Reed pitched his way out of a jam. With runners at 1st and 3rd and 1 out, Reed went on to strike out the next two batters.

Bottom of the 2nd– South Side ties the game at 1 and had a runner on base with 1 out, but once again Reed ended the inning with back-to-back strike outs. Game tied at 1.

Top of the 3rd- Reed, Richard Kurz and Arzberger walked to start the inning and with the bases loaded and 0 out, Logan Sweesy hit a Sac Fly to scored Reed and Hopewell regained the lead 2-1.

Bottom of the 3rd– An easy 1-2-3 inning for Reed as he got two ground outs (one to Ethan Adams at 2nd and the other to Arzberger at first).

Bottom of the 5th– Rankin enters to replace Reed and had an easy inning by striking out the first two batters.

Bottom of the 6th– Another relatively easy inning for Rankin. The first out came on a ground out to Yannessa at 3rd base, out No. 2 came via a strikeout and then after a South Side single, the inning ended when the runner at 1st was picked off by Sweesy (catcher). Hopewell still led 2-1.

Bottom of the 7th– Hopewell needed 3 more outs and Rankin stayed on to close out the game. South Side led off the inning with single, which was followed by a stolen base. The next South Side batter grounded out to Adams at 2nd base. On the play, the runner moved to 3rd base. South Side now had the tying run at 3rd with just 1 out. However, Rankin had ice in his veins and didn’t crumble. Liam struck out the next batter for the second out. After walking the next batter and having him steal second, South Side had the winning run at 2nd. But Rankin ended the game on a ground out to Kurtz at shortstop.

HOPEWELL WINS 2-1!!

Next up for Hopewell/Team Reed is a matchup against undefeated Beaver (7-0) (Team Hamilton) on Thursday. Good luck Hopewell!

Hopewell Pony League/Team Hoffman Battle for 6-2 Win Over Central Valley

Hopewell Pony League (Team Reed) Win Pitching Duel vs. South Side