FREEDOM– The Hopewell Vikings Coach Pitch (Team Daley) opened up the playoffs tonight with a 1st round matchup on the road against Freedom.
It’s a very competitive and deep Coaches Pitch League so it won’t be easy for any team to win, including the multiple teams from Hopewell.
This was a very competitive game but in the end the difference was the offensive depth in Hopewell’s lineup along with outstanding defense displayed by the Vikings. The end result was Hopewell coming away with a 12-8 victory. Great job kids!!
HOPEWELL DEFENSE:
*Let’s get into the defense first and we have to start by talking about Brady Daley, who was a brick wall playing pitcher. Anything that Freedom hit up the middle, Daley fielded and fired over to first baseman Harper Lavia, who snagged all the throws. Speaking of Harper Lavia, she made two nice defensive plays in the 1st inning on sharp ground balls to first base.
*More Hopewell defense as in the bottom of the 2nd, shortstop Hudson Lavia and second baseman Adley Faust teamed up for two fielder’s choice plays which killed Freedom momentum.
*In the bottom of the 3rd, nice teamwork shutdown some aggressive Freedom baserunning. The Freedom leadoff hitter laced a ball to centerfield and tried to be aggressive by going for a double. However, Will Vukovcan fielded the ball, fired into Hudson Lavia at shortstop, who raced to the bag to tag the runner. Later that inning, with a runner at 3rd and 2 outs, Daley fielded a grounder and threw to Harper to end the inning.
*In the bottom of the 4th, Daley fielded two grounders back to the mound.
*In the bottom of the 5th, Daley fielded all three grounders and accurately threw to Harper Lavia at 1st. With this performance, Daley received a game ball.
Hopewell’s Will Vukovcan and Brady Daley
HOPEWELL OFFENSE:
-The Vikings banged out 17 hits tonight as four players collected 3 hits apiece: Harper Lavia, Bradey Daley, Will Vukovcan and Cam Baker. A thumbs up to Will Stewart who also registered 2 hits.
-In terms of RBIs, Vukovcan led the way with 4, followed by Max Kokan with 3, Hudson Lavia with 2, Cam Baker with 2 and Daley with 1.
-Hopewell scored 4 runs each in the 1st, 3rd and 5th innings, each time the top of the order batted.
-1st Inning: Daley got things started by singling in Faust. After a Hudson Lavia RBI fielder’s choice, Baker singled in Lavia and Kokan brought in Vukovcan with an RBI groundout. Hopewell led 4-0 after 1st inning.
-3rd Inning: Freedom tied the game 4 but Hopewell answered with 4 more runs. Hudson Lavia brought in his sister, Harper with a line drive single to center. Next up, Vukovcan hit a deep double to right field to score Daley and Lavia. Will then scored on another RBI fielders choice by Kokan. Hopewell led 8-4.
-5th Inning: Hopewell put the game away in this inning by putting up another 4 spot. The first two scored on another deep double to right by Vukovcan scoring Harper Lavia and Daley. Vukovcan finished the game with 3 hits, 4 RBI and got one of the game balls. Baker continued his hot hitting with a single to center scoring Hudson. For the 3rd time today, Kokan drove in a run by putting the ball in play which scored Vukovcan. Hopewell led 12-4.
FINAL INNING:
-Hopewell went to the final inning leading 12-8 and needed 3 outs to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs. The first two Freedom batters struck out and then the game ended as Faust fielded a grounder at 2nd base and fired over to Harper Lavia at 1st.
FINAL SCORE: HOPEWELL 12 FREEDOM 8
Winning is Fun!! Congrats Team Daley and good luck in the next round.
