South County claims AAA City Championship
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune
Madera American Little League champions South County Colts Jr. defeated Madera National Little League champions Madera Blinds and Shutters 12-1 Saturday to win the AAA City Championship.
Madera American Little League champion South County Colts Jr. scored a run in all six innings and cruised to a 12-1 victory over Madera National Little League Champions Madera Blinds and Shutters to win the Madera AAA City Championship.
South County manager Felipe Molina, who has won nine of the last 10 MALL AAA titles, used aggressive baserunning for his fourth City Championship victory Saturday.
Michael Scalzo got the win on the mound. He didn’t allow a hit over 3 1/3 innings with six strikeouts. Scalzo, Sammy Molina and Julian Ruiz allowed Madera Blinds and Shutters to just one hit and one run while striking out 13 batters.
South County banged out seven hits and took advantage of six walks and eight errors, which accounted for five unearned runs.
Scalzo also led the Colts with his bat. He had two triples and a single with two runs scored and a run. Molina scored three runs and Chris Mejia scored a pair.
The Colts got on the scoreboard first when Scalzo hit a ball over the centerfielder’s head for a triple. Scalzo kept going and scored on a bad throw from the outfield for a 1-0 lead.
South County scored four runs in the second inning. Carlos Mendoza singled and stole second. Christian Castillo followed with a single and also stole second. With Mejia at the plate, Mendoza stole home. Castillo scored on a wild pitch and Mejia followed after a bad throw.
After a pair of strikeouts, Jordan Robles drew a walk, stole second and third and scored on another error for a 5-0 lead.
Molina led off the third with a single up the middle and raced around the bases when Scalzo hit another ball over the centerfielder’s head for another triple. Scalzo came in to score on a groundout from Mendoza to increase the lead to 7-0.
The Colts scored another run in the fourth with the bottom half of their line-up. Mejia tripled into right-centerfield and later scored on an error to open an 9-0 lead.
Madera Blinds and Shutters got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning. With one out, Alex Sanchez drew a walk, stole second and went to third on an error. Amber Burks reached on a fielder’s choice while Sanchez came in to score.
Santiago Gomez reached on an infield single and a wild pitch put runners at second and third with two outs. However, Molina got the next batter to line out to Miguel Esnery at third to end the inning.
South County added another run in the fifth. Molina reached on an error and advanced to second. He went to third on a Scalzo single and then stole home on a double steal for a 9-0 lead.
The Colts closed the game in the sixth with three more runs. Jeremiah Reyes drew a walk and went to third on two wild pitches. Wyatt Goerdt was hit by a pitch and went to second on a wild pitch.
Reyes scored on a wild throw and Goerdt scored on a Robles groundout. After a strikeout, Molina walked and scored after three wild pitches for the 12-1 victory.
After walking the first batter in the sixth, Julian Ruiz struck out three straight Madera Blinds and Shutters batters for the Madera City Championship.
