Madera American 12’s win first two
Tyler Takeda/The Madera Tribune Madera American second baseman Jorge Gutierrez reaches up to make the catch in front of diving right fielder Eric Gallegos during a victory Saturday over Reedley.
The Madera American Little League 11-12-year-old All-Stars opened the District 10 All-Star tournament with a pair of victories to set up a semifinal match-up with Madera National Little League.
Madera American beat host team Reedley on Saturday, 10-2, to open the tournament and came through with a 12-2 win over Sunnyside-Fresno in the quarterfinals.
Madera American and Madera National met Monday evening for a date in the championship game Thursday while the loser plays Wednesday to try to get to the championship game.
Madera American 10, Reedley 2
REEDLEY — Locked in a 3-2 battle entering the bottom of the fifth inning, Madera American sent 11 batters to the plate while scoring seven runs to blow open a close game for the eight-run victory.
Reedley battled with Madera American through the first five innings. They tagged Eric Wilson and Frankie Espejo with four hits each and scoring twice on Wilson.
However, Madera American put it all together in the fifth.
Espejo led Madera American with three hits and scored two runs. Josh Alvarez and Jojo Mosqueda each scored two runs and Mosqueda hit two doubles.
Mosquead hit a one-out double in the first, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on an error on a Noah Castro grounder for a 1-0 lead.
Espejo led off the second with a single and went to second on a sacrifice. Alvarez reached on an error and Espejo scored when the ball went by the leftfielder while Alvarez advanced to second. He came in to score on an Eric Gallegos single up the middle for a 3-0 lead.
Reedley scored a run in the third and another in the fourth before Madera American left the bases loaded in the fourth inning.
Madera American then scored seven runs in the fifth inning, four were unearned. Wilson opened the inning with a double and scored on a Martinez single. After Espejo singled, Jorge Gutierrez doubled to right-center to drive in Martinez and Espejo.
Gutierrez scored on an error. Alvarez scored on an Elijah Tang groundout and Mosqueda’s double drove in Elijah Martinez. Wilson reached on an error and Mosqueda scored on a wild pitch for a 10-2 victory.
Madera American 12, Sunnyside 2
After scoring eight runs in the first two innings, Madera American closed the game with four more runs for a convincing victory Sunday.
Madera American banged six doubles, including two each from Tang and Wilson. Martinez drove in three runs.
Mosqueda got credit for the win. He tossed two innings to open the game and allowed a hit with five strikeouts. Four Madera American pitchers held Sunnyside to just four hits.
Madera American opened the game with three runs in the first inning. Tang, Mosqueda and Wilson each scored runs. In the second, Madera American went on a five-run rally with two outs and nobody on. Tang started the rally with a ground rule double. He scored when Mosqueda reached on an error. Mosqueda scored on another error.
After a pair of walks, Martinez doubled in two runs for an six-run lead after Sunnyside scored a run in the first and fifth innings.
Madera American closed the final two innings with a pair of runs each. Tang, Wilson and Gutierrez each hit doubles, which led to runs.
