June 13, 2008

Bear River Rays finishing season strong

The Bear River Rays didn’t qualify for the upcoming District 11 Tournament of Champions but the Bear River Little League major division team is doing the next best thing – making sure it finishes its season strong.

The Rays, who will end their campaign tonight at Condon Park against the Grass Valley Giants at 7 p.m., moved their season mark to 13-7 over the past week with a pair of impressive victories over the Grass Valley Angels, 8-5, and the Bear River A’s, 18-3.

Here’s a recap of those two wins:

Bear River Rays 8 Grass Valley Angels 5 – The Rays used a leadoff home run from Tyler Toft in the first inning and never looked back in handing Grass Valley’s “B” TOC team the setback. Toft’s home run keyed a 3x3 game at the plate for the Rays catcher.

The Rays went on to score three more times in the first to build a 4-0 advantage as Kyle Soria (2x3), Chris Lopez (2x2, 2B) and Bear Belding (2x2) also delivered big raps for the winners.

Matt Lopez, Kyle Krogman, Justin Brown and Mac Slane also hit safely for the Rays.

A two inning pitching stint by Lopez, three frames from Justin Brown and one by Donald Brennan handled the mound duties for the Rays.

Bear River Rays 18 Bear River A’s 3 – The Rays had their hitting togs on in the lopsided win over the A’s as the victors banged out 22 base hits in the romp.

Soria’s two doubles and a triple helped ignite the Rays’s offense while Brown contributed three rips with included a pair of doubles.

Also getting in on the offensive display for the Rays were Lopez and Belding with two hits and a triple each, Brennan going 2x3 with a pair of doubles and Slane and Krogman each garnering a pair of raps with a double.

Franz Shimick, Chris Stevenson and Jacob Pieper kept the rally at the plate going for the Rays as all three each collected a hit.

Toft was equally sparkling on the mound as he tossed a route going pitching effort which included spacing out five A’s hits, fanning 12 and allowing just