While the pace was slow, the offense was efficient for the Dream Chasers 11u in Saturday’s 13-3 victory over the Plainview Hawks in the ‘Beat the Heat’ tournament at Mitchel Field.
The Hawks exhibited a patient offensive approach in the top of the first inning against Dream Chaser’s starter Justin Rotondi. The right-handed pitcher walked three in the first inning and and the Hawks scraped together a run on an errant throw during a pickoff attempt at third base.
The lead was short lived, though. the Dream Chasers put together a huge inning. Leadoff batter Izaeya Collado got things going with a walk, stolen base and advanced on a wild pitch. A walk to Jaiden Lopez and a stolen base put two runners in scoring position. Julian Martinez also walked which loaded the bases for Justin Rotondi who smoked an RBI single to left field to tie the game at 1-1. A strikeout of Cameron Lynch was the first out of the inning, but Liam Brower walked to give the Dream Chasers the 2-1 lead. A two-run single to right field by Matthew Tejada extended the lead to 4-1 and Shea Corona hit an infield single to open up the 5-1 lead.
Credit to Plainview Hawks as they put up a fight in the top of the second. Cole Zuckerman led off with a well-struck double to right field and he wound up scoring after three consecutive walks brought him in to make it 5-2. Andrew Cucuzza smoked an RBI single to make it 5-3. In a crucial at bat with the tying runs on base, Rotondi was able to bear down and record a strikeout of his counterpart, Ryan Paradiso to end the threat.
It wound up being critical as the Dream Chasers did not look back in the bottom of the second. They put up five more runs with the big knocks coming on a two-run triple by Rotondi, an RBI hits by Brower and Tejada to make it 10-3.
In the bottom of the third, they piled on some more runs to make it 13-3.
The Dream Chasers offense has been relentless all tournament as they improve to 3-0. They have posted 43 runs over their three games and will be back in action tomorrow at 9 am. The finals for the 11u division will be 11:15am at Mitchel Field 2.
