Hopewell Youth Baseball
12U All-Stars Reach Championship Game After 6-5 Win Over Ambridge
Pitching and perfect defense led the Hopewell 12U All-Stars to a 6-5 win over Ambridge.
The Vikings will now take on either No. 1 seed Quaker Valley or Etna in the championship game.
Reed Budavich started the game for Hopewell and was literally unhittable as he went 3 innings, allowing 0 hits, 0 runs and struck out 5.
Hopewell got on the scoreboard first in the Top of the 1st with heads up base running by Luke Vukovcan, who scored on a passed ball.
The Vikings extended the lead to 3-0 in the Top of the 4th. Andrew Arzberger and Aiden Ritchart led off the inning with singles. Arzberger scored on a passed ball while Ritchart scored on an RBI single by Gunner Reese.
Arzberger relieved Budavich and pitched a scoreless 4th and 5th innings.
Hopewell tacked on three more runs in the 5th inning and as it turned, they would prove to be critical runs.
Jaxsen Covalt started the inning with a walk and one out later, Gill also reached base on a base on balls. Next up, Vukovcan drove in Covalt with an RBI single to extend the lead to 4-0. Next up, Arzberger singled in Gill and Vukovcan to up the lead to 6-0.
Things got a bit dicey in the last inning but Gaguzis came in with 2 outs to induce a pop up to Arzberger.
Budavich was named the Game MVP.
