Jul 6, 2008

Hillsborough powers past Paly National

Mark, Goodman, Segre homer for victors

By John Reid / Daily News Staff Writer

The cream is steadily rising to the top in the Little League District 52 11-and-12 year-old All-Stars Tournament. And when one starts to talk about contenders, one must first include Hillsborough, which pounced on Palo Alto National 10-2 Saturday in front of a healthy crowd at Middlefield Ballpark in Palo Alto.

Hillsborough battles the tournament's other unbeaten club, Foster City, on Tuesday at Middlefield Ballpark at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that game advances to Thursday's championship game, hammer in hand. PA National plays today's Palo Alto American-Belmont/Redwood Shores winner on Monday.

"Palo Alto National has been good for the past few years," Hillsborough manager Jeff Cozad said. "They play real good defense and are well-coached."

Hillsborough's Chris Mark stroked a pitch to deep left field for a home run and a 3-0 first-inning lead. Mark, a fine defensive catcher, was on base all four times up. He walked and scored in the third, was hit by a pitch and scored in the fourth and reached first via an error in the sixth.

"I haven't hit many home runs this year," Mark said. "It felt good to hit one."

PA National, which has played well defensively throughout the tournament, committed four errors Saturday. One error contributed to an unearned run in the second inning. Two more errors in the third led to two more unearned runs for Hillsborough.

Hillsborough put the game away in the fourth inning, ignited by a long, leadoff home run to left-center field by Grant Goodman, who had himself quite a day. Goodman singled and scored in the first inning, then doubled in the second. In his last at-bat, Goodman grounded out to shortstop, falling a triple short of the cycle. Goodman also made a diving catch in right field to rob Jack Cleasby of a hit in the fifth inning.

"Goodman is one of the best hitters I have seen at the Little League level," Cozad said. "We have good hitting up and down our lineup. And everyone is so unselfish."

Frankie Ferrari singled with one out to put runners on at first and second as the fourth-inning rally continued. With two outs, Andrew Segre clouted a three-run shot to left field for Hillsborough's final runs of the game. Segre, who started the game as a reserve, had three hits and four RBIs on the day.

PA National's Bowen Gerould had the best success against Hillsborough pitching, which combined to strike out eight batters. Gerould singled, doubled and hit a no-doubt home run to left field in the third inning on the first pitch he saw from Austin Marcus. Marcus, however, pitched into the sixth inning after relieving Goodman in the first inning to get the win. Palo Alto National was outhit 10-5.



E-mail John Reid at jreid@dailynewsgroup.com.



Hillsborough 312 400 - 10 10 2

PA National 011 000 - 2 5 4

Goodman, Marcus (1), Caruso (6), B. Barrows (6) and Mark; Scott, Stewart (3), Tracy (4), Cleasby (6) and Schmutz. WP-Marcus. LP-Scott. 2B - Goodman (H); Gerould (PAN). HR - Goodman, Mark, Segre (H); Gerould (PAN). 3 hits - Goodman, Segre (H); Gerould (PAN). 4 RBI - Segre (H). 3 RBI - Mark (H).