After battling back from an early 5-0 deficit to Atwater Wednesday night in the District 10, Area 2 All-Star tournament finale to take a 7-5 lead, the Madera National
9-10 All-Stars, plagued by six errors, imploded in an 11-8 loss to end their hopes for a championship.
Brian Hefner drew the start for Madera and struggled with control as Atwater scored five runs in the top of the second on three hits. Hefner hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. Madera committed two errors behind him.
Madera bounced right back in the bottom of the second as Anthony Velasquez reached on an error with Zack Carr and Joshua Conigliaro loading the bases after drawing walks. A sacrifice fly by Antonio Noriega got Madera on the board before two more free passes plated another run. Jonathan Valdez then ripped an RBI single to left before an Atwater error knotted the game, 5-5. Michael Berra then gave Madera a 6-5 lead with a run-scoring single.
Madera added to its lead in the third as consecutive one-out singles by Joseph Gray and Matthew Alvarez resulted in Gray racing home to score on a wild pitch and extend the lead to 7-5.
Paul Stanford Paul Stanford is the sports editor for the Madera Tribune. You can contact Paul at 674.8134 ext. 225 or e-mail at pstanford (at) maderatribune.net
