June 2, 2008

Late HRs Lift Grass Valley Angels Over Grass Valley A’s, 6-4

For five innings last Saturday afternoon the Grass Valley Angels found themselves fighting an uphill battle against their District 11 Little League rival Grass Valley A’s.

The Angels trailed 1-0 after one inning, 4-1 after four frames and finally 4-3 going into their final at bat in the top of the sixth inning.

But the Angels were saving their best for last.

After Cody Voss worked himself on base with a leadoff walk to start the sixth inning, a potential game-winning rally looked promising. However, the A’s retired the next two Angels’ batters to temper the uprising and were just one out away from victory.

That brought up the Angels’ Clint Bielen and one pitch later he responded with a home run over the left field fence to push the Angels on top, 5-4.

Following Bielen’s HR, Wils Riley added icing on the cake with a solo blast of his own for an insurance run in a 6-4 Angels lead.

Bielen, who had come on in relief of starting pitcher Greg Paul, then pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning to preserve the victory.

The win for the Angels keeps the team in the running for a Grass Valley Little League title and a berth to the Tournament of Champions.