The Morgan Hill Colt Athletics team is on a roll and appears to
be unstoppable. But that could change.
SAN JOSE – The Morgan Hill Colt Athletics team is on a roll and appears to be unstoppable. But that could change.
The Athletics cruised through the Sectional and Regional tournaments and will begin Zone play on Wednesday at noon against Norwalk of Southern California. If they win, they play Thursday at 5 p.m. All games are in PAL Stadium in San Jose.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever earned our way to the Zone,” said manager Dave Newton. “We’ve been there before, but it has been handed to us because of hosting a tournament.”
The Athletics started off the tournament last week with a 5-3 win over Sunnyvale and a 7-4 win over South San Francisco. But things would get ugly on Saturday for the Athletics, who were coming into the game wining 21 straight games.
San Bruno defeated Morgan Hill 8-7 on Saturday after numerous walks. Eric Nelson started the game and pitched five innings, and Jarod Quock closed out the final two innings, allowing a pair of runs.
“We just didn’t play a good game,” Newton said. “It wasn’t a good game for our pitching, which has carried us all year.”
Coming into the game in Sectional and Regional play, the Athletics were averaging about two earned runs a game.
Doug Porras, who was 2-for-3 with a triple and RBI, and Andrew Cummins both scored in the top of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough to give the Athletics the win.
The game was tied at 5-5 in the sixth inning, before San Bruno once again made the most of walks to go ahead.
Michael Marquez was 1-for-2 with a pair of RBIs, and Ryan Bennett had an RBI and was 1-for-1 for the Athletics.
“The Zone tournament is always tough,” Newton said. “There are always bigger and better teams. It will be tough it we drop into the loser’s bracket. The tournament is a real quick tournament with games every day.”
The championship game is Saturday. If the Athletics, win they would fly out Sunday to continue their season in Indiana.
