Shelby and Hesperia each went 1-1 Saturday at the Ken Smith Tournament in Hesperia Saturday.
Hesperia
reached the championship game with a 6-2 opening win over Montabella,
the Panthers' first win of the season, then fell 11-6 in extra innings
to Mason County Central in the finals.
The Panthers broke a
1-1 tie in the third inning by scoring five times to make the difference
in the game. Two walks and a hit batter started the pivotal third
inning, and from there the Panthers did well to put the ball in play and
get runners across the plate. Tucker Bolles had a RBI single during the
rally, one of his two hits in the game.
Daylen Castillo pitched well for Hesperia, allowing only one earned run on seven hits and striking out three.
Hesperia
grabbed a 5-1 lead early in the championship game before MCC roared
back with five runs in the fifth inning. The Panthers then tied it in
the sixth on Marshall Norris' RBI single, and the game went to extras.
MCC, though, opened the floodgates with two early hits in the eighth
inning to take the lead, and pushed across four more runs with two out
thanks to two Hesperia errors.
Norris, Abe Escobedo, Braxton
Hendrix and Nate Sherburn each got two hits in the finals, and Hendrix
scored three runs. Weston Hasted got the start and allowed two earned
runs on six hits in five innings, with six strikeouts.
The
Tigers opened the day with a 2-0 loss to Mason County Central. DayDay
Garcia had his team's only hit as Shelby couldn't solve MCC pitcher
Kaden Ruiz. Evan Waller drew two walks in the game. Garcia pitched well
and took a tough-luck loss, striking out eight and allowing six hits in 5
2/3 innings. Leighton Belasco pitched 1 1/3 innings of shutout ball in
relief.
Shelby finished the day with an 11-8 comeback win over
Montabella in the consolation game. The Tigers fell behind 2-0, 5-4 and
8-5 before rallying to score the game's final six runs - three each in
the fourth and fifth innings. Garcia's leadoff triple got the
fourth-inning rally going to tie things up. He came across to score on
Trevor Weiss' single, and from there the Tigers drew two walks, took
advantage of a passed ball, and manufactured a couple of runs. Chase
Simon and Waller each got a RBI hit in the fifth.
Simon had
two hits and scored twice in the win. Belasco got the win, pitching 2
2/3 innings of shutout ball in relief with four strikeouts.
