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2009 Tournament News |
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Over Memorial Weekend, our division All-Stars participated in local tournaments.
All Stars are selected by voting from the division coaches. The coaches vote based on the players' performance over the season. The All Star coaches are volunteers and are voted in by their coach peers and approved by the MHPB Board. The player performances over Memorial tournaments are evaluated as a basis for the summer All Stars who will represent Morgan Hill in the PONY Baseball Sectional tournaments and beyond.
Morgan Hill Bronco A Team Defeats Blossom Valley to Win Seaside Tournament SEASIDE - CA May 25, 2009 When the schedule and game brackets were released last week for the 5th annual Memorial Day Bronco Tournament in Seaside, CA, most people couldn't help but notice that two of Santa Clara County's powerhouse Bronco division teams where on opposite sides of the bracket. The Morgan Hill Bronco A Team (the "Thrill") and the "Rays" from Blossom Valley would have to win four games to meet each other in Monday's championship game....... and they did just that. Like a tennis player holding serve, Morgan Hill opened up the tournament with a 10-0 victory over the defending Little League District 55 champions from Soledad. Patrick Muller pitched five dominant innings of one-hit ball for Morgan Hill. The offense was led by Alejandro Torres who went 3-3 and drove in two runs. The highlight of the game was a towering home run off the bat of Mike Porras that cleared the 240' right center fence by 25 feet. Muller also chipped in a pair of hits and drove in two runs. In the next two games vs. North County and host Seaside, the Thrill put on a show of power pitching and hitting that would bode well for them in the coming championship game. Morgan Hill outscored their two opponents by a combined score of 36-1. Mark Quinby had 5 hits over the two games and scored three times. Bradley Higgins had three hits. Torres had 6 hits including a home run that cleared the street in right field. Porras added his 2nd and 3rd HR's of the tournament which featured a prodigious grand slam, and Ethan Cox collected five hits and had three runs batted-in. Pitchers Sam Aptekar, Josh Alaniz, and Jack Affourtit struck out a combined 16 hitters. Monday's semi final game vs. the "Titans" of Monterrey was very spirited through four innings. Ben Hughes and Domenic Zanotto both singled and scored twice to help Morgan Hill to an early 4-2 lead. Mark Quinby added a pair of hits and a key run batted in. The game was put out of reach in the 6th inning when Torres blasted his second HR of the tournament, a 3 run shot, which insured the 8-2 victory for Morgan Hill. Mark Quinby pitched 5 strong innings while Torres closed out the Titans with 2 innings of scoreless relief. Blossom Valley held up their end with victories over Salinas, Monterey, Seaside, and Carmel. Blossom Valley outscored their opponents thru four games by a total of 44-7. In the championship game, Coach Dave Affourtit gave the ball to Ethan Cox. Cox extended his scoreless innings streak to 12 vs. Blossom Valley. Cox struck out two and got excellent defense from Aptekar, Hughes, and Cole Campi. Offensively, a pair of clutch two out singles from Patrick Muller and Mark Quinby gave the Thrill a lead that would never be in jeopardy. Torres, the tournaments MVP, pitched the final three innings to preserve the 5-0 victory.
Bronco Green Team takes Second Place at San Jose Pacific Tournament Morgan Hill met up long-time rivals, Blossom Valley, in Saturday’s game. In the 1st inning Morgan Hill took advantage of 4 walked batters by BV and put 5 runs on the board. Hunter Kirk started on the mound for MH, striking out the side. Kirk pitched 3 innings, keeping BV to 3 runs. In the bottom of the 3rd, MH added 5 more runs off the hits of Cole Griffin, Justin Dziuba and Kirk. Jared Freitas pitched the next 2 innings for MH. Freitas allowed only 1 run to score. Justin Dziuba closed for MH, striking out 2 batters and giving up 1 hit. MH’s last out of the game came when Dziuba picked-off a runner at 1st base. This gave MH the victory over Blossom Valley, 11-4. On Sunday, MH came out swinging against Lakewood. MH capitalized on 2 base hits, by Jesse Osuna & Cole Griffin during the 1st inning and was able to bring in 2 runs. Kirk opened up on the mound, pitching 3 innings and holding Lakewood to only 2 hits. Offensively, Zach Riveron, Osuna and Kirk all singled in the 2nd opening up MH’s lead to 4-0. Lakewood scored a run in the 3rd. MH’s offense came back strong in the 3rd with hits from Osuna, Griffin, and Garrison Grisedale, which gave MH the lead 6-1. Jesse Osuna took over the mound in the 3rd and pitched 2 innings. Osuna kept the Lakewood offensive at bay and allowed no runs. Dziuba singled to right field to lead off the 4th inning. Asa Jacob & Griffin were both walked. Zach Clinger got on by a fielder’s choice and ended up scoring giving MH the lead 7-1. MH scored a run in the 5th on an error. To close the game Griffin came in to pitch, adding 1 run Lakewood’s score. MH’s offense never let up, with 3 doubles hit by Osuna, Grisedale and Clay Miller, defeating Lakewood 13-2
MH would meet their rival, BV again in the
championship game on Monday. Kirk started on the mound for
MH and kept BV to 4 runs. MH started out early at the plate
scoring 7 runs in the first 3 innings. Osuna had a pair of
hits, followed by key singles from Griffin, Kirk & Dziuba.
Dziuba went in to pitch during the 4th inning.
Some defensive errors and some key hits allowed and opening
for the BV offense to score 4 runs in the 4th
which gave put BV the lead 8-7. MH came back in the 5th
to score a run after a walked batter and a sacrifice fly hit
by Clinger. In the 5th inning, the MH defense
shut down BV batters. BV scored 4 in the 6th,
taking the score to 12-7. Dziuba hit in a single in the 6th
but never hit home plate, keeping MH with 7 runs. Osuna
closed the game for MH. BV scored 1 run in the 7th
after an error. MH offense started off strong in the 7th
with singles by Osuna & Griffin but fell short, leaving 2
runners on and a score of 13-8. Bronco 11U B Team plays at Twin Creeks
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