One day after rapping out 12 hits to earn a ticket to the championship round, the Northgate Cubs bats went quiet Sunday as the Cubs scored two runs in the last two innings but that was not enough as the Salida Rockies held on for a 3-2 win for the championship of the District 67 Majors Tournament of Champions at Lincoln Park.

 The Rockies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and that was the lone run of the game until the No. 9 Salida batter Anthony Swaboda laced a two-out, two strike double to score two runs for a 3-0 lead.

 Northgate – which totaled five hits and had at least one runner on base in each of the first four innings – got on the board in the fifth. Logan Harries hit a one-out triple and came in to score on a single by Jacob Toste.

 Cam Pickering led off the sixth for the Cubs with a walk and was replaced by pinch runner Charlie Sanders. Anthony Flores (2 for 3, two doubles) doubled Sanders to third and Sanders came in on a Dylan Stokes groundout that left Flores at third with one out. Unfortunately, the next two Northgate batters struck out and that brought the season to an end for the Cubs.  

 Josh Grabowski went the distance on the hill for Northgate and yielded just five hits, striking out nine including fanning the side in the second and walking just two.

 

Northgate Cubs 11,

Patterson Indians 4

After being dispatched to the consolation bracket by the Indians on Wednesday, the Cubs had two home runs in the fourth inning Saturday to help get their revenge and earn a slot in the championship round.

 Grabowski (3 for 4, double, two RBI) homered to lead off the Northgate fourth. Pickering followed with a walk and then Flores (4 for 4, home run, double, three RBI) belted one over the fence for a two-run home run, running the Cubs lead to 5-2.   Northgate added two more runs in the inning on bases-loaded walks to Toste and Grabowski.

 Flores singled in Grabowski in the sixth and leadoff batter Harries (2 for 3, double, two RBI) had a two-RBI single as part of a three-run Cubs third.

 Flores started on the mound and pitched 4.1 innings, allowing three earned runs on four hits while striking out five.

 Toste got Northgate on the board in the first inning when he tripled in Harries and came all the way around on the play when the throw to the infield was mishandled.