2010 PCBL O.C. Summer A-Div. Championship
Sun. 10/10 @ 1:30pm / USC Dedeaux Field
Kings -vs- Rays

 

 

 

Rays hold off late King rally to claim title

By Scot Sweet / PCBL Staff writer

 

This was the second game of our PCBL Orange County Championship triple-header at beautiful Rod Dedeaux Stadium at USC. The field was in perfect shape for this championship; as was the weather on this gorgeous Sunday afternoon …. so let's get right to the action!

The game is scoreless as the Rays come to bat in the bottom of the 3rd inning. They lead things off with Tom Gallardo who reaches base safely due to an error on the 3rd baseman. He steals 2nd shortly thereafter. Two batters later, Matt Ahrens draws a walk. Moments later, a pass ball advances the runners; with a run scoring. Jason Hilliard follows with an RBI single to left. Two batters later, Tyler Gottstein doubles to left; scoring a pair. The Rays end up getting 4 runs in the inning; now leading 4-0 through 3 complete innings of play.

The Kings' send up Greg Bacon with 1 out in the top of the 4th inning. He reaches base due to a fielders' choice, then advances to 3rd on a balk by the pitcher. Joe Cruz comes up and hits an RBI single. The Kings settle for 1 run in the inning to get on the board in this contest; down 4-1.

The Kings would come up in the top of the 5th inning; still down 4-1. Pitcher Matt Gomez starts things off with a single. He later scores on a Jeff Sagud double. They get 1 run in the inning to cut the deficit to 2; down 4-2 through 4 ½ innings of play.

But then the Rays respond in the bottom of the 6th inning. They lead off with Clint Williamson who singles. Tyler Gottstein followed with a single. However, both runners end up getting put out on the bases. Darren O'Hara followed with a single and advanced to 2nd on a pass ball. Brandon Beato followed with an RBI single. The Rays get 1 run in the inning and now lead the Kings by a score of 5-2.

The Rays come up in the bottom of the 7th, still leading 5-2. With 1 out, Tom Gallardo singles and steals 2nd soon after. Two batters later; Gallardo scores when Jake Long id reaches due to a fielding error. The Rays settle for 1 run in the inning; now leading 6-2 through 7 complete innings of play.

But the Kings cut the gap in the top of the 8th. Joey Cahill draws a 1-out walk. Diego Salcedo follows with a single to left; stealing 2nd soon after. Two batters later, Joe Cruz responds with a 2-run single to right. The Kings end up with 2 runs in the inning; now trailing 6-4 through 7 ½ innings.

The Rays come up in the bottom of the 7th; looking for some much-needed insurance runs. The top of their order, Matt Ahrens, leads things off with a single to right. He's followed by Jason Hilliard who singles to left center; putting runners at the corners. Moments later, a wild pitch scores Ahrens from 3rd. The Rays get 1 run in the inning; leading 7-4 as we move into the top of the 9th inning.

The Rays' send up David Guerro who singles and steals 2nd soon after. He's followed by Matt Neff who singles to center. The next 2 batters would be retired; sending up Jeff Sagud with 2 on and 2 out in the 9th inning. He hits a 2-run single to pull the Kings to within 1; down 7-6. The next batter would be hit by a pitch; bringing the winning run to the plate. However, that batter would go down swinging to end the ballgame.

Congratulations to the 2010 PCBL OC Summer Champion Rays for holding on to win this one in a nail-bitter; defeating a tough Kings squad by the final score of 7-6. Congratulations to both teams for putting on a most competative championship!

Box Score

Kings   0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 6 10 2
Rays    0 0 4 0 0 1 1 1 -   7 11 1

Pitching Stats
WP Clint Williamson (Rays)8 IP; Allowed 4 runs on 7 hits; 4 BB & 9 K's
Save Matt Ahrens (Rays) 1 IP; Allowed 2 runs on 3 hits; 0 BB & 1 K
LP Matt Gomez (Kings) 9 IP; Allowed 7 runs on 11 hits; 1 BB & 5 K's

Rays' Offensive Contributers:
Tyler Gottstein 2 for 4; single, double, 2 RBI's, 1 run
Jason Hilliard 2 for 4; 2 singles, 1 RBI, 1 run
Matt Ahrens 1 for 3; single, walk, 2 runs
Brandon Beato 1 for 3; single, 1 RBI
Tom Gallardo 1 for 3; single, 2 runs
Clint Williamson (P) 2 for 4; 2 singles

Game Time: 1:40pm – 4:20pm (2 hrs, 40 min)

Umpires
Pl) Frank Pflugratt
1st) Heath Jones
3
rd) Kwan Kim