Yoemen do well at Cameron Tournament
Last weekend, the Cameron Yoemen baseball team hosted a tournament that included 10 total teams that took place from Thursday through Saturday. The Yoemen played just one game on Thursday against the Gateway Gators. Cameron defeated the Gators in a 1-0 pitcher’s duel.
Brannon McCall (6) started on the mound in the first inning and allowed two walks. He then buckled down to get out of the top of the first inning with three straight strikeouts. The Yoemen came to bat in the bottom of the first inning and got a two out double from Marino Cardona (15). Cameron couldn’t do much else as he got tagged out trying to steal third base. McCall came back on the mound and pitched a clean second inning. Cameron came back on offense and didn’t get on base in the bottom of the second inning. McCall returned to the mound for the top of the third inning and allowed a two out single. The Yoemen played great defense as they caught the runner stealing second base to end the inning. Cameron started the bottom of the third inning with a leadoff double by Jaidyn Sanchez (11). That would be it for the Yoeomen as he was caught stealing third base for the third out of the inning.
McCall came back on the mound and continued his outstanding play, pitching another shutout fourth inning. Cameron was unable to back up McCall and couldn’t score in the bottom of the fourth inning. McCall came back out for the top of the fifth inning and allowed two out single. Cameron got out of the inning with a caught lineout by Landon Greene (9) at shortstop. The Yoemen tried to get on the scoreboard with a two out infield single by Bobby Borgas (7) in the bottom of the fifth inning but was unable to bring him home. McCall returned to the mound and stayed lights out with a shutout sixth inning. Cameron came to bat and Colby Wilson (20) was hit by a pitch with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning. Carlos Bolivar (8) came in as the pinch runner and stole second on a passed ball. He came home on a clutch RBI (runs batted in) double by Adam Cardona (1) for the 1-0 lead.
“We were just trying to find a way,” Coach Hector Delgadillo said. “We talked earlier when we met when they called time out about how we can get him (Bolivar) over to second without trying to give an out. Luckily, we got a passed ball that was huge, but we had a good situation like that with a left-handed batter. He was able to hit a ball down to the right side that allowed us to get an extra base. With the passed ball and Carlos getting on second, we knew that if he got a ground ball that way, that was our best chance. He kind of fisted one off the inside part of the bat just enough to get over that first baseman. Carlos had a great jump and was able to score the only run of the game.”
The sixth inning soon ended on a fly out to the outfield. To start the top of the seventh inning, McCall allowed a leadoff double. The runner would be caught stealing third base on an incredible play by the catcher, Dillan Akin.
“That’s huge,” Delgadillo said. “I think we got one of the best catchers in our district and probably region with Dillan. He might not be very big, but that kid can play, block, and he’s pretty smart back there. It’s something that he’s good at, it gives us a chance even on a bad pitch. Those are huge, that’s part of our defense.”
Cameron sealed the game on a McCall strikeout to win a tough 1-0 battle. McCall pitched a gem, throwing all 7 innings and gave up no runs on 3 hits and 2 walks with 13 strikeouts.
“With him really not preparing and getting a full warm up like he normally does for his starts, that kind of limited him,” Delgadillo said. “It was fast pace; we’ll just have to get him loose early in tournament games like this. Once he found his fastball, he was able to throw a slider to compliment his fastball, and that kept the hitters off balance a lot.”
Up next was a game on Friday with the Thorndale Bulldogs. The Yoemen would defeat the Bulldogs 11-2 in a game that lasted 5 innings. After that, Cameron played three games on Saturday. The First game was a loss against the Greenwood Rangers 8-5, then the second game was a 7-0 win against the West Trojans.
Landon Greene (9) started on the mound for the Yoemen and pitched a shutout first inning. Cameron came to bat in the bottom of the first inning and started with a leadoff single by Tracer Lopez (3). He stole second base then advanced to third on a passed ball. Greene then reached first base with a walk and he would also steal second base. He then advanced to third and Lopez came home on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead.
That was followed with an RBI groundout by Marino Cardona (15) for a 2-0 lead. Cameron continued to hit with a single by Brannon McCall (6), who also stole second base then to third on a passed ball. The first inning then ended on a strikeout. Greene came back to the mound and pitched a shutout second inning.
The Yoemen offense came back out and were unable to score in the bottom of the second inning. Greene returned to the mound and pitched another clean third inning. Cameron came to bat in the bottom of the third inning and started with a leadoff single ripped by Greene. Kason Goolsby (14) came in as the pinch runner and stole second base. He came home on a blasted two run home run by McCall for 4-0 lead. That would be all the scoring in the inning as the third inning ended on a groundout. Greene stayed lights out and pitched a clean fourth inning. The Yoemen could not do much on offense in the bottom of the fourth inning with just a two out double by Lopez as the offense wasn’t able to bring him home.
Greene came back out to the mound in the fifth inning and pitched another brilliant inning. The Yoemen came to bat in the bottom of the fifth inning and started with a leadoff line drive single by Marino Cardona then followed by a single by McCall. Marino Cardona scored on fielding error by West for a 5-0 lead. Sanchez was hit by pitch but couldn’t score as the fifth inning ended on a line out.
Greene started the sixth inning strong but then allowed two walks with two outs. He got out of the jam with a groundout. Armando Reyes (2) hit a leadoff single to start the bottom of the sixth inning and advanced to second base on throwing error. He came home on an RBI double by Lopez to make the score 6-0, then Lopez stole third base on a pitch that got by the catcher. McCall reached first base on an error and Lopez came home to make it a 7-0 lead. The sixth inning ended on a strikeout. Greene allowed a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh inning, but the defense fixed that problem with a double play on a catch by Lopez and throw to Marino Cardona at first base, and an out later, Cameron sealed the win for a 7-0 shutout.
Cameron played one final game in the tournament and battled to a tie with the Columbus Cardinals 8-8. The Yoemen will not play again until Thursday and will participate in another tournament hosted by Franklin High School.