CHAMPIONS- 11-Year-Old All-Stars Win 2024 Hopewell Tournament

The winning in Hopewell continues!!

A week after the Hopewell Pony League team won the 2024 Beaver County Championship, Hopewell’s 11-Year Olds were able to handle the pressure and win the 2024 Hopewell All-Star Tournament.

After defeating Central Valley in the semifinals, Coach Dave Gigliotti’s squad took on a solid Washington team and walked about with a 9-2 victory.

Key factors in the victory: 1) Hopewell’s offense was able to put up a run in every inning. 2) Hopewell played solid defense and didn’t commit and error. 3) The heart of Hopewell’s order (3-4-5 hitters) went 6 for 8, with 4 RBI, 2 doubles and a HR.

And anytime you win a championship, your team needs good pitching and Hopewell received that today and all tournament. Rhett Rankin, Rilynn Davis, Wade Enders and Elliott Mancos allowed just 7 hits, 2 runs and allowed just 4 walks.

Here’s a recap of the highlights of tonight’s championship victory.

Bottom of 1st and Washington up 1-0, Hopewell tied things up as Rankin’s single brought up Colby Cunningham, who led off the game with a walk.

In the top of the 2nd, Washington had runners at 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, and the Washington hitter lined out to second and after catching the call, 2nd baseman Wes Gigliotti fired over to third base to double off the runner. Then with a runner still at 2nd with 2 outs, R. Davis fielded a ball at shortstop and threw out the runner. Game remained tied at 1.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Davis led off with a walk, then stole second and third base. After Eli Seech walked, Mancos grounded out to second, which brought in Davis. Hopewell took the lead 2-1. Then with Seech at 3rd and 1 out, Austin Gallagher grounded out to shortstop, which scored Seech.  A Washington error led to another run and Hopewell led 4-1 after two innings.

Davis came on to pitch the 3rd inning and came away with a quick 1-2-3 inning. Rilynn got the first batter to ground out to 1st base, the second batter to fly out to Mancos in left and then fielded a groundball herself and threw to first.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Cunninham once again reached base on a single to right field and would eventually score on a single by Gigliotti. Hopewell now led 5-1.

In the Washington 4th inning, Davis stayed in to pitch and struck out the first two batters. The next batter doubled but was quickly erased as he attempted to steal third and was thrown out by catcher Wade Enders.

The Vikings added on to the lead in the 4th inning as Cunningham brought in Mancos on a line drive single to center field. Hopewell now led 6-1.

Washington tacked on a run in the 5th inning to cut the lead to 6-2 but the Vikings responded. With 1 out, Rankin hit an opposite field line drive double to left. Next up, Enders traded places with him at 2nd as he hit a line drive double to right, which scored Rankin. Hopewell led 7-2. Next up, on the first pitch of the at-bat, Krotec crushed a home run to deep left field, well past the 190-sign. This was the first home run of Krotec’s career.

With a 9-2 lead, Mancos entered the game needing just 3 outs to secure the championship and he got the job done. The first out came courtesy a strike out. The second out came on a pop up to second base. Then the championship clinching out came courtesy a ground out to Davis at shortstop.

Vikings Win, Vikings Win!!