Vaquero victorious against Jewel City to open 9-10 tourney
TUJUNGA — The coaches for Vaquero and Jewel City-Jewish War Veterans were shuffling their pitchers Tuesday in an opening-round game of the District 16 Little League 9-10 Baseball All-Star Tournament.
The teams combined to use 10 pitchers, including six in the first three innings, in an attempt to keep their hurlers eligible for upcoming tournament games.
Pitchers who left after hitting a 19-pitch threshold could return and throw the next day, instead of having to rest a day if they exceeded that number.
In the cavalcade of pitchers, Vaquero tallied runs early and was able to advance with a 10-4 victory against Jewel City at Tujunga Little League Fields.
Vaquero will play Wednesday at 7:30 at the same venue against the Burbank-Crescenta Valley winner. Jewel City will take part in a second-chance contest at 5 p.m. Wednesday at Tujunga against the Burbank-Crescenta Valley loser.
Vaquero started pitcher Morrison Bauer, who struck out four of the first five batters he faced. But the hurler was pulled with two outs in the second inning when he reached the 19-pitch threshold.
“Although he was pitching great, my thought was to keep him eligible for other games in the tournament,” Vaquero coach Juan Piedra said. “It’s tough because Morrison is such a great pitcher and we knew he could do the job.
“As a coach, your first priority is to win the opening game of the tournament. I told myself if we had a three- to four-run lead that I would pull him out and use my other pitchers. But as you saw, the other pitchers came in and did a good job.”
Vaquero jumped in front early, taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Daniel Guzman (base hit, walk and two runs scored) walked and scored on a triple to right field by Bauer. Bauer was plated on a fielder’s choice by Brian Saldana.
Vaquero added to its lead with two runs in the second. Nathaniel Piedra (hit, walk and two runs scored) walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Bauer walked and came around on a triple to center field by Angel Kaletta for a 4-0 advantage.
“We really played as a team today,” Bauer said. “I think our fielding was great, our hitting was really good, too. It was just fun out there.”
Jewel City cut the lead to 4-2 with two runs in its half of the third. Josiah Saroughian and Nicholas Aparicio (two walks) drew walks and scored on a double to center by Isaac Saroughian.
“This is probably the youngest team that Glendale has ever sent to this tournament in this division,” Jewel City coach Adam Aparicio said. “We have a lot of 8-year-olds on this team. So the way they played today, I’m just very proud of them.
“Hopefully we can bounce back against CV or Burbank.”
With two more runs in the third inning and four in the fifth, Vaquero took a 9-2 lead. Jewel City plated single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
“This was really a team win,” Juan Piedra said. “It was good that we got an early lead. When you get ahead by four or five runs, the kids kind of settle in and they are motivated because they see that lead.”
Twitter: @jefftsports
