Bear River's 11-year-old All Star team is off to a 2-0 start in Distirct 11 tournament play with wins over Newcastle and Sierra Foothills. The team plays Penn Valley today at 5:30 p.m. in a winner's bracket game at Western Gateway Park in Penn Valley. Shown front from left are Michael Scudero, Dayton Anderson, Kyle Soria, Tyler Toft, Nick Mansuetti. Middle row from left, Brett Solomon, Nick O'Connor, Robbie Hildebrand, Martin Vigil, Isaac Van Patten, Travis Whitehead, Derek Adleman, Matt Lopez. Top row are coaches Randy Anderson, James Toft, Lance Mansuetti.

July 7, 2008

Bear River 11s Outlast Sierra Foothills, 10-8

In a good old-fashion see-saw battle Saturday afternoon, the Bear River 11-year-old All-Stars proved to have a little more staying power than Sierra Foothills of Colfax.

Coming up with timely hitting and great defense, the Bear River 11s made it two straight wins in District 11 Area 11 tourney action by besting SFLL, 10-8, at Penn Valley.

The win advances Bear River into this evening’s winner’s bracket semi-final round where the south Nevada County squad will match up against host Penn Valley.

Game time at Western Gateway Park is slated for 5:30 p.m. with the winner advancing out to Thursday night’s winner’s bracket area championship game.

Bear River’s win was strictly a team effort as the pitching of Kyle Soria, Martin Vigil and Brett Solomon teamed to stymie a free-swinging SFLL team which tallied 26 runs in its first game.

Meanwhile, Bear River had a fine offensive output of its own as the winners banged out a total of 17 base hits in the contest.

Leading the way were Solomon and Isaac Van Patten who both ripped out three hits and Dayton Anderson who had a pair of raps and finished the game with three RBIs.

Also contributing were Martin Vigil with a triple among two hits, Soria and Matt Lopez with two hits each and Tyler Toft with a two-run single.

Rounding out the attack for Bear River were Nick Mansuetti and Nick O’Connor with one hit each.