Little League seniors fall to Spreckels Park
Errors proved costly to Porterville in the team’s first round game of the Northern California Senior Division State Championship tournament against Spreckles Park of Manteca at Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia on Sunday morning.
Guaranteed two games, Porterville will play again in Visalia, today at 8 p.m. in the consolation half of the bracket that still has a chance at making it to the championship game.
Porterville totaled four errors in the 6-0 loss with all four resulting in runs scored, including a shot over Porterville’s right fielder’s head and a missed catch during the cutoff relay that turned a triple into an inside-the-park home run to lead off the top of the third inning.
On offense Porterville didn’t fare any better with the team managing just five hits and runners never reaching third base through seven innings. Diego Dulay and Alexis Bedolla went 2-for-3 to lead Porterville while Yance Williams got the team’s only other hits.
The game started off well for Porterville in the top of the first when Bedolla’s hit up the left field line and a bobble by Spreckles’ short stop on Williams’ hit put the two on first and second base, respectively, with one out. But a strike out and a fielder’s choice at second base ended the inning with no runs for Porterville. Williams and Dulay also had back-to-back hits up the middle with two outs in the top of the third, but a fielder’s choice kept them from getting past second.
Spreckles started off hot against starting Porterville pitcher, Alonso Bedolla, as Spreckles picked up two runs on four hits and a walk despite Porterville turning a double play in the bottom of the first. In the second, Porterville gave up no hits but had two errors – one of which resulted in a run scoring due to some confusion on where to throw on a run-down with runners on first and third.
The inside-the-park Spreckles’ home run in the bottom of the third brought Spreckles lead to 4-0 but it was quickly increased to 5-0 the next inning on an RBI single off Porterville pitcher Aiden Jackson. In the fifth, Jackson and the Porterville defense held Spreckles scoreless and kept their runners off third base for their strongest
inning of the day.
Another Spreckels’ Rbi-single in the bottom of the sixth brought in the final run – another unearned run after the runner had reached on a dropped popup in the infield during the second at-bat of the inning. Porterville went three-up, three-down on groundouts in the top of the seventh to end the game. Between pitchers Alonso Bedolla, Diego Dulay, Aiden Jackson and Taquana Gibson, Porterville gave up six runs on nine hits, four errors, four strikeouts, three walks and one hit-by-pitch.