CONCORD
– The Silicon Valley Vipers 10U baseball travel team overcame a
slow start in the USSSA Concord Qualifier to win their fifth
tournament title.
CONCORD – The Silicon Valley Vipers 10U baseball travel team overcame a slow start in the USSSA Concord Qualifier to win their fifth tournament title.
The Vipers lost the first two games in the West pool before recovering with a big 13-1 win over the Atwater Slammers.
Because Balz-Out, the Slammers and the Vipers were all 1-2 in pool play, the Vipers were seeded No. 2 and were pitted against the undefeated No. 1 seed from the East pool, the Concord FreeAgents. The FreeAgents had allowed only a total of four runs in their three victories.
The FreeAgents scored in the bottom of the first to take a 1-0 lead, but the Vipers struck for two runs in the second on a double by Tyler Kiefer. The FreeAgents scored single runs in the second and third innings to take a 3-2 lead but the Vipers scored two more in the fourth on hits by Brett Fuller and Kiefer, two in the fifth on Fuller’s double and two more in the sixth on a single by Nick Zapata and Mike Valentine’s home run to take an 8-3 lead.
The FreeAgents threatened in the bottom of the sixth. But shortstop Nicholas Pusateri turned a line drive into a double play to end the threat and seal the 8-5 victory for the Vipers.
The Vipers advanced to the championship game against the Starmakers, who had defeated the No. 2 East pool seed, the Vacaville Heat, earlier in the day. Halfway through the scheduled six inning game, the Starmakers led 7-3.
In the top of the fifth, the Vipers scored three runs on a triple by Fuller and a double by Aaron Cimino sandwiched around two walks and two Starmaker errors to close the gap to 7-6. After holding the Starmakers scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, the Vipers took the lead with two runs in the sixth on consecutive two-out hits by Fuller, Mark Harris and Mike Valentine.
But the Starmakers tied the score in the bottom of the sixth on a pair of doubles. In the seventh inning, the score remained tied as both teams scored a run.
The Vipers put the game away in the eighth with eight runs. Pitcher Aaron Cimino put the Starmakers down in order to complete the 17-9 win. The Viper player of the game was Brett Fuller, who was 6-for-6 with two RBIs and four runs scored.
“The team kept their heads up and played with a lot of heart this weekend, said coach Nick Pusateri. “Coming back to win after losing the first two games was a true test of our team’s character.”
