Golden Valley rallies late against Livingston to go 2-0 on first day of Atwater tournament
Austin Mello didn’t have the outing he hoped for on the mound on Monday afternoon for the Golden Valley High baseball team.
The Cougars sophomore made up for it with his bat, collecting three hits, including a clutch two-run double in the fifth inning that helped Golden Valley erase a four-run deficit in an 8-7 win over Livingston at Memorial Ballpark.
The victory capped off two wins on the first day of the 61st annual Fran Oneto/Atwater-Winton Lions Easter Baseball Tournament. Golden Valley (9-10) opened the tournament with a 12-2 win over Denair.
“We’re all young and we haven’t been in a lot of games together,” said Mello, who doubled twice and drove in three runs. “It was huge to get the two wins today. We battled and hopefully we can make the championship game on Thursday.”
The Cougars faced a big deficit early after the Wolves (9-9) scored four runs in the top of the first inning against Mello. Christian Alvarez delivered the big blow for Livingston with a three-run double. Alvarez doubled twice and drove in five runs for Livingston.
Golden Valley rallied for three runs in the bottom of the first with Mello and Trevor Hath driving in runs.
Trailing 7-3, the Cougars rallied again with a five-run fifth inning.
The inning started with three consecutive hits by Koen Heupel, Rohan Thiara and Cade Ivy to cut hte lead to 7-4.
Mello then doubled to left field to score Thiara and Ivy to pull the Cougars within 7-6.
“That felt great,” Mello said. “I had a tough game on the mound so I wanted to help my team anyway I could.”
Mello eventually came around on a wild pitch to tie the game at 7-7 and then freshman Braylen Centeno blooped in a single to give Golden Valley an 8-7 lead.
“It’s a testament to the whole team in the dugout never giving up,” said Golden Valley coach Greg Euker. “Earlier this year when something bad happened it would snowball. Today we just build off their confidence out there. Our guys were loose, but they still stayed focused and played for each other.”
Left-hander Nate Lucero pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth inning to pick up the win for Golden Valley. Heupel pitched a perfect seventh inning to save the game.
Thiara and Centeno both picked up two hits and a pair of RBIs in the win over Denair.
Livingston is back in action on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. against Douglas. Golden Valley returns on Wednesday with a 4 p.m. game against Douglas.
