Douglas senior throws no-hitter as Tigers defeat Atwater in Easter tournament championship
Senior right-hander James Hubbard threw a no-hitter and the Douglas High baseball team finished off a dominant showing at the 61st annual Fran Oneto/Atwater-Winton Lions Easter Baseball Tournament with an 11-0 win over Atwater in the championship game on Thursday night at Memorial Ballpark.
The Tigers (21-4), who made the trip this week from Minden Nev., erupted for eight runs in the second inning in a game that was stopped after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“They had a hammer on the mound who threw well and we had one bad inning,” said Atwater coach Jarrod Pimentel, whose team dropped to 16-6 on the season. “I wish we would have played better for the fans.”
Hubbard was over-powering on the mound, striking out six hitters and only allowed two walks. The right-hander was named to the all-tournament team.
Hubbard was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow senior Gabe Natividad, who doubled, singled and scored two runs against the Falcons.
Douglas senior Gabe Foster was named the tournament MVP after homering twice earlier in the tournament. Foster drove in three runs against Atwater with a pair of hits.
Atwater pitchers struggled to throw strikes early in the game and fell behind in the count against Tigers hitters.
Douglas plated three runs in the first inning with the help of four hits.
The Tigers then sent 14 hitters to the plate in the second inning, scoring eight runs on five hits with the help of four walks and two Atwater errors.
Douglas went 4-0 in the tournament, outscoring their opponents 48-7.
If there was a bright spot for the Falcons it was reliever Emmanuel Macias. the junior right-hander came on and pitched three scoreless innings.
“Emmanuel threw well,” Pimentel said. “He came in and threw a nice offspeed pitch for a strike. He got some big outs and that was good to see at the end.”
Atwater senior Cole Hazel was named to the all-tournament after going 5 for 12 in the four games with three runs and two RBIs.
The game started an hour late because of rain delays throughout the final day of the tournament.
Atwater will return to Central California Conference action next week at Merced High on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Gregori 7, Golden Valley 4 — Tyler Hartzell drove in two runs as the Jaguars won the third-place game against the Cougars.
Gregori’s Paul Gutierrez Contreras added two hits and two runs for Gregori, which improved to 15-10.
Golden Valley (9-12) will travel to Buhach Colony on Wednesday.
Mountain House 5, Livingston 3 — Roy Gardner pitched six innings, recording eight strikeouts to pick up the win for the Mustangs on the final day of the tournament.
Ny’Zaiah led the Mountain House offense with two hits and two runs scored.
Livingston (10-11) will host Modesto Christian on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
