Sierra Foothills Braves hurler Alex Nevarez fires a pitch towards the plate during Wednesday's wild 13-10 extra inning District 11 Tournament of Champions win over the Grass Valley Orioles. obfoto.com
June 25, 2009
SFLL Braves hold off GV Orioles, 13-10
It was a wild night of baseball, to say the least, for the Sierra Foothills Braves and the Grass Valley Orioles Wedensday night.
Playing at Bear River Little League Park in the second round winner's bracket of the District 11 Area II Tournament of Champions for major division squads, the Braves had to rally all night long in the see-saw affair before finally pulling out a nail-biting 13-10 seven-inning win over the Orioles.
The come-from-behind win now vaults the Braves into Thursday's 7:30 p.m. Area II semi-final game against the Bear River Diamondbacks who were a 6-4 winner over the Foresthill A's.
In Thursday's first Area II semi-final, the Bear River Astros tangle with the Nevada City Dodgers at 5 p.m.
Thursday's two winners will then meet on Friday at 7 p.m. also at Bear River to decide the Area II title.
For the Braves, it was a long haul to overtake the Orioles as they had to wipe out a 9-5 deficit with a big four-run rally in the top of the sixth to force the game into extra innings.
Once in extra frames, the Braves used a basesloaded double and eventual two base error that enabled Ryan Hallman to come all the way around the bags and score for a 13-9 advantage.
The Orioles then made things interesting in the home half of the seventh when they pushed over a run to cut the deficit to 13-10 and also loaded the bases. However, the Braves ended the game with a called strikeout to preserve the win.
Hallman also added a home run for the Braves while Alex Tobiasz tunred in a strong mound effort.
Bear River Diamondbacks 6 Foresthill A's 4 - The Diamondbacks survived a long home run and double effort from Foresthill A's stabdout Aaron Arnett to squeeze out the win and move into the semi-final round.
Nick Mansuetti was one of a trio of D-Back hurlers who pitched a steady game and kept the rest of the A's bats in check.