STOCKTON — In a game that had more errors than hits Wednesday night, No. 9 hitter Spencer Hulsebosch laced a two-out single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning to score two runs and give the Northgate Reds a 9-8 walk-off win over the Weston Ranch Ports at Paul Weston Field in Little League District 67 Junior Tournament of Champion action.
Northgate plays either the Salida A’s or the Tracy Giants Saturday at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
The Reds entered the seventh trailing 8-6 when walks to Justin Ontiveros and Gregson Yarnell followed by alert base running gave Northgate runners on second and third with one out. Joe Menzel grounded out to first, scoring Ontiveros, and then walks to Brad Hicks and Miguel Diaz – the Reds drew 10 free passes – loaded the bases for Hulsebosch (2 for 4) and his heroic single.
Weston Ranch took advantage of a string of walks and an error in the fourth inning to take a 7-6 lead. All told, the two teams combined drew 19 walks, committed nine errors, stranded 15 runners and tallied seven hits.
Cody Simerley started on the hill for the Ports and went into the sixth when he had to exit the mound for reaching the maximum pitch count. Simerley allowed just three hits but was victimized by five errors in the first three innings that yielded four Northgate runs.
Robbie Gloeckler and Matt Patane each got a single and scored – Patane scored twice – for the only other Reds hits other than Hulsebosch’s. Kyle Ostertag (RBI), Simerley and Alex Vega each had one single for the Ports.
Northgate plays either the Salida A’s or the Tracy Giants Saturday at 2 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
The Reds entered the seventh trailing 8-6 when walks to Justin Ontiveros and Gregson Yarnell followed by alert base running gave Northgate runners on second and third with one out. Joe Menzel grounded out to first, scoring Ontiveros, and then walks to Brad Hicks and Miguel Diaz – the Reds drew 10 free passes – loaded the bases for Hulsebosch (2 for 4) and his heroic single.
Weston Ranch took advantage of a string of walks and an error in the fourth inning to take a 7-6 lead. All told, the two teams combined drew 19 walks, committed nine errors, stranded 15 runners and tallied seven hits.
Cody Simerley started on the hill for the Ports and went into the sixth when he had to exit the mound for reaching the maximum pitch count. Simerley allowed just three hits but was victimized by five errors in the first three innings that yielded four Northgate runs.
Robbie Gloeckler and Matt Patane each got a single and scored – Patane scored twice – for the only other Reds hits other than Hulsebosch’s. Kyle Ostertag (RBI), Simerley and Alex Vega each had one single for the Ports.
