Tri-City ends up third in state little league tournament

The Tri-City All-Stars are the third-best 8-10-year-old All-Star baseball team in the state. The run for the little league state championship ended Wednesday at Marshall Park in Fremont when the team lost to Twin Cities, 4-2, ending the team's four-game run. Tri-City had more hits than Twin Cities, 11-9, but the run column is the one that matters. "We had another solid pitching performance from Ethan Baquial, who pitched a complete game," Tri-City Manager Joe Finn said. "We out-hit Twin Cities, but couldn't get that timely hit and stranded a small village on the bases." Twin Cities jumped on top 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning, but Tri-City answered right back with two runs in the top of the third. Kaiden Tuggle and Baquial opened the inning with singles before Baquial was forced out at second on Kellan Hurley-Rahimi's ground ball. Hudson Hammon then singled in Tuggle before Jett Finn drove in Hurley-Rahimi with a basehit. It was the team's only two runs of the game. However, the team left runners on second and third base in the inning and also left runners on second base in the first and sixth innings. Gage Smith, Jace Finn, and Josh Diaz each had two hits for Tri-City, as eight of the 12 players had hits for the team. "I am so incredibly proud of these boys," Finn said. "They worked their butts off all summer to get to this point and left it all on the field; unfortunately, just came up a little short. Third place is nothing to be ashamed of or disappointed about. The memories and bonds with players and families made from the double-day practices, taco Tuesday team dinners, pool parties, mini-golf, BBQ/movie night at the ball fields, etc. will last a lifetime." In their other games, an excellent pitching performance from Jace Finn and Tuggle lifted Tri-City to a 6-1 win over Lemoore Little League on Tuesday. Finn allowed one run on four hits and four strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Tuggle was excellent in his 3.1 inning of relief, as he struck out four and walked one while allowing no hits. Offensively, Tri-City scored single runs in each of the first three innings, while scoring three more in the top of the sixth. Bowen Pool had three of the team's 14 hits, while also knocking in a run. Jett Finn, Willie Marks, Tuggle and Baquial each had two hits. Marks had two RBIs, while Tuggle and Baquial had one apiece. Jace Finn had one hit and one run batted in. On Monday the team rebounded from their loss on Sunday with a tight 4-3 win over Hollister. Tri-City scored three of their four runs in the first inning, and as it turned out, scored an ever important insurance run in the top of the sixth inning. In the first, all three runs came with two outs. Pool drew a walk and was replaced at first by Smith. Silvio Ferrari followed with another walk before Smith scored on a single by Jace Finn. Ferrari stole third before scoring on a wild pitch, and Finn later scored on a wild pitch to give Tri-City a 3-0 lead. Leading 3-1, Tri-City scored again in the top of the sixth inning. With Smith on first with two outs, Ferrari singled and Jace Finn followed with a walk before Connor Azevedo singled in Smith to make it 4-1. Hollister scored twice in the bottom of the sixth, before Finn recorded the final out of the game, a 4-3 win for Tri-City. Ferrari pitched the first 5.1 innings allowing three runs on six hits to get the win, while Finn recorded the save. "This team is so much fun to coach," Finn said. "They have fun, play hard and never give up. In the second game we faced another really good team from Hollister. Another all-around solid team. Our starting pitcher, Silvio Ferrari, pitched an absolute gem of a game. He was two outs away from pitching a complete game, but because we made a few mistakes on defense, he reached the maximum pitch-count threshold and I had to pull him. We brought Jace Finn in to close it out and we buckled down and held on to win 4-3. "Our pitching and defense have been the backbone of our success throughout the entire All-Star season." In the team's opening game Sunday, Tri-City fell to Danville, 7-1. The team's only run came in the fourth inning when Ferrari was safe on a fielder's choice and eventually scored on Azevedo's fielder's choice grounder. Jett Finn had two of the team's five hits in the game for Tri-City. "We ran into a really good Danville team that was just fundamentally sound all the way around," Finn said. "We made a few mistakes which they capitalized on, which ultimately decided the game."