LATHROP – Quinn Martinez is a rally slayer.
The Northgate pitcher took to the mound in the fourth inning Sunday against Turlock American with the bases loaded and no outs. Five pitches later the frame was over and Northgate was on its way to a 6-3 win in consolation action in the Section 6 9-10 year-old All Star Tournament at Mossdale Landing Park.
Martinez struck out the first batter he faced and the second grounded one back up the middle. Martinez got the ball home to catcher George Mendoza for one out and Mendoza fired to Collins Schluer at first for the inning-ending double play with Northgate leading 5-1.
Turlock American picked up two runs in the fifth thanks to a two-run, two-out fielding miscue. After yielding a leadoff single in the sixth, Martinez got the next three batters out, notching the final out via strikeout.
Errors proved to be costly for Turlock American. Northgate’s Blake Mount (2 for 3, RBI, run) led off the bottom of the second with a single and ended up on third when the ball rolled to the fence. Mount scored on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead.
Noah Navarro added a one-out single and he came all the way around to score when Devon Richardson’s single rolled all the way to the fence, landing Richardson on third. Richardson scored on a Nick Garcia groundout, followed by No. 9 batter Robby Espinosa hitting a single. Espinosa scored on Martinez’s double for a 4-0 lead.
Running for Mendoza who singled to start off the third, Garcia worked his way to third and came home when Hunter Canady attempted to steal second. Schluer singled to start the fifth and scored the game’s last run on a single by Mount.
Northgate faces Linden today in the consolation final at 5:30 p.m.
Linden 8, Northgate 5
Trailing 8-3 going into the sixth, Northgate loaded the bases with no outs in the final frame but only managed two runs in the opening-round loss Saturday.
Martinez (RBI, run) plated Hunter Canady (2 for 2, run) for the first Northgate run in the sixth and Schluer (2 for 4, run) hit a shot to shortstop that was too hot to handle, plating Garcia. The threat ended on a groundout with the bases loaded.
Martinez walked to open the third and worked his way around to score on a wild pitch. Schluer followed Martinez with a single and scored on a groundout to put Northgate ahead 3-0. Running for Canady who singled, Anthony Morales came home on a groundout by Garcia in the second inning for the first run of the game.
11-12 year-old
Northgate 7, Morada 4
Turlock American 8, Northgate 2
TURLOCK – Greg Adams launched a three-run home run in the third inning to key a come-from-behind win for Northgate over Morada at Julien Ballfield on Saturday.
Morada drew first blood with an RBI double in the top of the second inning. In the bottom of the third, Nolan Mix singled and Fernando Alaniz (2 for 3, two RBI, two runs, two doubles) doubled, setting up Adams’ yard shot.
Andrew Viri led off the Northgate fourth with a walk followed by hits by a Matthew Miske (single) and a double by Alaniz, scoring Viri and Miske. After walks to Adams and Carson Sanders to load the bases, Ivan Alvarez hit a towering fly ball that the Morada infield could not get under, scoring Adams and Sanders.
Zach Grabowski started on the hill for Northgate working 2.2 innings and allowing just two hits and one run, striking out four. Noah Calmes came on in relief and after one run scored, Calmes notched a strikeout and induced a comebacker for a 1-6-3 double play. Josh Seals and Alaniz threw the final two innings for Northgate, allowing one run each. Northgate pitchers did not allow any walks.
Early errors sunk Northgate on Sunday in second-round action against Turlock American.
Northgate faces Morada today at 7 p.m. in consolation action.
Nor-Cal Division II Juniors
Oakland 6, Northgate 5.
VISALIA – Oakland scored three runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead and Northgate responded by loading the bases with one out in the seventh but only could get one across in second-round action Sunday at Alisal High School.
John Perazzo reached on an error for Northgate in the seventh followed with consecutive singles by Evan Jeffery, Anthony Flores (2 for 3, two runs) and Ivan Vieira. Perazzo scored on Vieira’s single but a strikeout and fielder’s choice ended the game.
Nate Rodriguez belted a two-run single in the fifth for Northgate, scoring Flores and Tyler Looney. In the first inning Flores scored on a single by Nolan Calmes and Vieira came in on a passed ball.
Northgate faces Lemoore in an elimination contest today at 5 p.m.
Northgate 11,
Pleasanton 1 (5)
Northgate leadoff batter Zac McCasland scored three runs and had a three-run double in the third on the way to the opening-round mercy rule win Saturday.
McCasland’s double was part of a four-run inning. It scored Looney (two runs), Lucas Krenz and Jayden Lopez. McCasland came in on an error to make the score 10-0.
In a five run second, two Northgate runs came in on a single off the bat of Calmes – Flores (2 for 3, two runs) scored from third and Looney scored from first following an error. The other three runs in the frame came in on errors – McCasland and Perazzo both hit balls to right field that were misplayed with Calmes scoring off of McCasland’s belt and Rodriguez and McCasland scoring off the bat of Perazzo.
The game ended in the fifth when McCasland scored on a wild pitch to invoke the mercy rule.
McCasland and Looney split the lion’s share of the pitching duties, allowing three hits while striking out three. Krenz threw two pitches in the fifth and induced an inning-ending groundout.
