Folsom American cruises in title game,15-2

Like a heavyweight boxer who gets stronger as the fight wears on, Folsom American's 9-10-year-old All-Star team lost the opening round of the Section 4 tournament but then won five straight games in five days to claim the championship. Folsom American won three straight to reach the championship round and then had to beat Land Park two games in a row to win the title. On Tuesday, Folsom American worked up a 7-0 lead and hung on to win, 7-5, and on Wednesday night they exploded for a 15-2 win in five innings, the team's first 10-run mercy rule win of the All-Star season. "After losing the first game, I didn't know we'd come this far at all," said third baseman Caden Black. "We just played our game. We play as a team and we always work together." Going into the championship game, Folsom American Manager Brandon MacLeod had his best pitcher throwing, Hunter Smith, and he needed a big performance out of him. Smith delivered and earned a game ball for his performance. "I was nervous before the game because I knew I would be the starting pitcher," Smith said. "I just tried my best to throw strikes and keep them off the scoreboard. My fastball was working and I was throwing it for strikes and then I'd throw my curveball to mess up their timing and then to set up my fastball." Smith's brother, Hayden, was behind the plate and said his brother pitched well. "Hunter did great," Hayden said. "His location was good and when he got two strikes he did a good job working the outside corner to get the out." Smith had to be efficient as possible so he could stay on the mound as long as possible. Not only did he pitch the entire five innings, but he threw less than 65 pitches, which means he can pitch for Folsom American in the second game of the state tournament on Sunday. At the plate, Folsom American, like they had done in the three previous games of the tournament, scored runs in the first inning to get a lead. On this night, they scored three runs, making for a total of 17 runs scored in the first inning in the last four games. Black, who had a huge game with four hits, three runs scored and two RBIs, started the game with a single up the middle. Black then moved around the bases and scored on errors from Land Park. Reed MacLeod and Everett Ziemann later grounded out and each drove in a run to put Folsom American in front 3-0. "Caden got our first game ball," MacLeod said. "He led off the game with a hit, went four-for-four, and set the tone for the game. It was great to see, and I'm proud of him." Land Park got a run back in the bottom of the first inning, but Folsom American scored four to open up the game in the top of the third inning. Again, Black was the table-setter, as he led off the inning with a double to left field. Black moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Colton Henry's groundout. Hunter Smith followed with a triple and he scored on another Land Park error on a ball hit by Hayden Smith. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Curtis Hayes hit a two-run single to put Folsom American in front, 7-1. Land Park picked up a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 7-2, but Folsom American put the game away with eight runs in the top of the fifth inning, all coming with two outs. With the bases loaded, Ethan Gong and Beau Davis both drew walks to drive in runs, while Isaiah Trujillo was hit by a pitch to knock in the third run, and for that earned a game ball. "Isaiah has been struggling but recently has been hitting the ball hard," MacLeod said. "He took one on the elbow tonight and earned a hard-fought RBI." Black singled in two more runs to make it 12-2. A run scored on a wild pitch before Henry and Hunter Smith picked up RBIs with singles to end the scoring at 15-2. MacLeod admitted he was concerned after his team dropped the first game of the tournament. "I was definitely worried, but they kids pulled it out," MacLeod said. "We were talking about how we haven't 10-runned anybody and we waited until the section championship game to do it? We just got stronger as the tournament went on. Our pitching was lights out. Our hitting was great and our defense was great and I think the scoreboard shows that. I'm really proud of the kids." Next up for Folsom American is the state tournament which begins Saturday in Eureka. "It feels great to be going to state," Hunter Smith said. "I didn't expect us to make it this far but we did. After we lost that first game, I didn't think we were going to make it. We just went out and tried to battle and hope we didn't lose." Hayden Smith added, "I just hope we can keep this momentum going and win it all."