Sweet Victory

The Bear River Astros charge the mound after recording the final out of Sunday night's 13-11 win over the Tri-City Cardinals. The Astros became the first Area II team to win the District 11 Tournament of Champions this decade by sweeping the Rocklin-based Cardinals. obfoto.com

June 29, 2009

Bear River Astros Hold Off TC Cards For Crown

With a chance to close out a “Dream Season” on the line Sunday evening at Bear River Little League Park, when opportunity knocked - the Bear River Astros answered.

Putting the lid on a scintillating 2009 campaign, the Astros – sponsored by Lake of the Pines Ace Hardware - scratched and clawed their way past the Tri-City Cardinals, 13-11, to capture the District 11 Little League majors division Tournament of Champions.

The win by the Astros gives the southern  Nevada County squad a two game sweep over the Rocklin-based Cardinals in what started as a best of three championship series. The Astros had opened the title series by defeating the Cards, 15-1, Saturday evening in Auburn.

The victory – which also capped a phenomenal 24-1 season for the Astros – also marked the first time in recent memory that a majors division team from Area II has pulled off a District 11 wide TOC title victory.

In Sunday’s game, it was evident from early on that a slugfest was probably going to be the method of operandi for the entire contest.

Still bruised from their lopsided loss to the Astros on Saturday, the Cards came out swinging Sunday as a two-run home run by Logan Webb staked the Rocklin team to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

But not to be intimidated, the Astros answered back with three of their own in the bottom of the stanza following Tyler Toft’s triple, two ensuing errors on balls struck by Brett Soloman and Kyle Soria and two Cards wild pitches.

Things settled down as both teams went scoreless in the second inning but in the top of the third the Cards took a 4-3 lead when the Astros were guilty of an error and Riley Jones followed with a single that plated Webb and Brandon Espley.

In the bottom of the third, the Astros were able to regain their lead when Toft led off with a double, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Bear Belding’s fielders choice. Soria then drew a walk later in the frame and eventually came around to score on a passed ball giving the Bear River gang a 5-4 advantage.

However, the see-saw battled continued in the top of the fourth when the heavy-hitting Cards tallied three more times with the big hit being a two-run homer off the bat of Dylan Smethurst.

Now trailing, 7-5, in the bottom of the fourth, the Astros, however, weren’t  to be denied. After loading the bases, the big rip of perhaps the game turned out to be a bag clearing double by Soria that gave the Bear River squad the lead for good. Belding then followed with another two-bagger scoring Soria to give the Astros a 9-7 bulge.

In another critical portion of the game, Matt Lopez came on in relief of Soria on the mound and recorded the final two outs of the top of the fifth in which the Cards were held scoreless.

Then, came a huge bottom of the fifth for the winners.

Sparked by a two-run double by Soloman and respective RBI singles by Soria and Robbie Hilderbrand, the Astros took control of the game by scoring four more times to increase their lead to 13-7.

But there were some anxious moments in the top of the sixth for Astros followers when the relentless bats of the Cards used a two-run double by Riley Jones and a RBI single by Zach Hopping to trim Bear River’s lead to 13-11.

However, with Toft now on the hill for the Astros, the Bear River relief ace got the final two outs of the game to cinch the win and the title.

Top sticks for the Astros included Toft who was 4x4 with a double and triple and Soria who went 2x3 with four runs driven in.

Also supplying more gas to the attack were Belding with a double and three RBIs, Soloman with a RBI double and Matt Lopez, Franz Shimek and Hilderbrand all with one rap each.

Soria worked the first four and a third innings to get the win. He spaced out eight hits and fanned five batters. Lopez and Toft mopped up for the Astros in relief.