July 13, 2008

Tough Night For BR Teams In Dist. 11 Openers

After sailing through Area II competition unscathed, a pair of Bear River All-Star baseball teams ran into some rough waters in the opening round of the District 11 best of three championship series’ that began Saturday night.

In Penn Valley, a hard-hitting Tri-City 11-year-old All-Stars team used a pair of three-run home runs to build a big ten run lead before Bear River mounted a furious rally that brought the Nevada County squad within striking distance before eventually falling in a 12-8 setback.

Meanwhile, in Lincoln, Bear River’s major division club ran into an equally hard-hitting Rocklin club and ended up on the short count of a 12-0 decision.

Both Bear River teams will try and get back on to the win trail today and extend their respective series’ to a third game with wins.

The Bear River 11s will travel to Rocklin’s Twin Oaks Park for Game Two which will begin at 7 p.m.

Also at 7 p.m., Bear River’s majors will return to Nevada City’s Pioneer Park to meet Rocklin in Game Two of the series for 11-12-year-olds.

Here’s a recap of the weekend’s games:

Tri-City 12 Bear River 11s 8 – After Tri-City’s Jacob Erickson and Brandon Espley both connected for three-run home runs that helped stake Tri-City to a 12-2 lead, it appeared the game was headed to a four-inning 10-run mercy rule ending.

But a pesky Bear River squad wouldn’t throw in the towel as the Nevada County team’s bats awoke and helped turn the game into an interesting affair.

With Brett Solomon going 3x4 with a pair of triples and three runs batted in and Nick Mansuetti adding a two-hit evening with another RBI, Bear River started to chip away at the Tri-City lead and forced the contest the full six innings.

“We played a very good team tonight and someone has to lose,” said Bear River manager Randy Anderson. “ But our team tonight showed why they are All-Stars…they fought right to the end and never gave up. It speaks volumes of the team’s character.”

Also having a hand in Bear River’s game comeback were Nick O’Connor with a single and RBI, Dayton Anderson with a sacrifice fly for another RBI and Tyler Toft with a 1x2 contest.

Martin Vigil and Toft also fared well on the mound in relief of starter Kyle Soria.

Toft from his catcher’s post and second baseman Matt Lopez also teamed up on a nifty pickoff play which cut down a Try-City runner at second base to end a threat in the second inning.

Winning pitcher Jeff Henry of Tri-City was effective as he allowed four runs on four hits and fanned seven batters in three and two-thirds innings of work.