Fogball wins Orange County tourney
Last weekend the Imperial Valley Fogball 8-and-under baseball team traveled to compete in the Xtreme Diamond Sports Labor Day Super NIT tournament in Orange County.
After going 1-1 in pool play on Sept. 2, the local team went into the second day of the tourney as the No. 4 seed in the Div. 1 bracket.
Facing the No. 1 seed, the San Clemente Stars and Stripes, Jonathan Gracia took the mound and delivered nothing but an extraordinary pitching performance in a no-hitter in the 9-0 win, explained Fogball head coach Jerry Niebla.
Gracia pitched four innings, had 10 strikeouts and two walks in the victory.
Leading the way offensively for the local team in the victory were Andrew Sosa who went 2-2 with one RBI, Jerry Niebla who finished 2-3 with two RBIs and Gracia who helped himself to a 2-3 performance at the plate with one RBIS.
Also earning some hits were Fernie Cervantes, Cole Redden, Ares Velarde who each went 1-2 with one RBI.
In the championship game Fogball challenged the Santa Clarita Zombies and won 5-4.
The winning pitcher in the championship game was Johrden Niebla.
Johrden pitched 3 1/3 innings and had seven strikeouts giving up just one hit and allowing no runs.
Offensively, Sosa led going 2-3 with one run scored.
Jerry Niebla, Johrden Niebla, Gracia, Cervantes, and Redden each added a base hit in the win.
“As you can see we had production from our entire lineup,” Coach Niebla said. “Our pitching was exceptional and our defense was solid. Great weekend for these boys.”