CUTTEN -- Too bad they don't have seating behind the outfield fences at Redwood Fields.
If there were, people would have had plenty to do, as it was bombs away in the Oroville Post 95's 9-6 victory over the Eureka Falcons in the 6th annual Bobby Goss Tournament championship game on Sunday.
”I like the fight in the dog,” Falcons' manager Dale Del Grande said. “We battled back, Stearns hit two jacks, it could have gone south quickly but I like the fight in the dog.”
For 76-year-old Oroville manager Joe Hottinger, who will retire after this season, the Bobby Goss tourney win was validation for an earlier premonition.
”We were beating ourselves,” Hottinger said, “I told my coaches we would get it all together in Eureka.”
Did they ever.
The matchup was reminiscent of a title match between two heavyweight boxers as each would land devastating hooks and uppercuts.
The Falcons landed the first haymaker on a two-run homer to right-center field by Ryan Stearns in the first inning, however, Post 95 responded with a shot that almost knocked Eureka to the canvas out cold.
Taking advantage of Falcon pitcher Matt Burwell, Oroville loaded the bases
The score would remain the same until the bottom of the third inning when Oroville's Joe Gonzalez rocked a Burwell offering to the same spot as Delozier for a solo jack.
Burwell was able to calm down and Oroville gunslinger Chris Pope held down the fort quite nicely.
That is until the fifth inning.
With a 7-2 deficit and the chance to hoist the Bobby Goss trophy fading away, the Falcons were able to chip away at Pope. And with two runners on, Stearns once again went deep to the same spot as his first homer, dwindling Oroville's lead to 7-5.
Mike Wilson followed up the bomb with a ground-rule double and Jordan Davis knocked him home for a run.
Uplifted and re-energized, the Falcons' -- with Andrew Ayers on the mound in relief of Burwell -- body language and demeanor changed with a victory in sight.
Oroville's bats, however, pounded the renewed confidence into the dirt.
Gonzalez -- who finished 4-for-4 with a home run and two doubles -- belted an Ayers offering deep into center field for a two-bagger and Jacob Fox -- who finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored -- brought him home for another run, giving Post 95 an 8-6 lead heading into the sixth where the Falcons made things interesting with a little help from Oroville.
With runners on first and second and newly inserted Oroville pitcher Storm Rodriguez on the mound with two outs, Ayers appeared ready to collect his first hit and perhaps an RBI. The Falcons' runners advanced, but not off the bat of Ayers, it was off the tongue of Rodriguez.
Licking his pitching fingers on the mound, the Oroville pitcher inadvertently allowed the Falcons to get runners in better scoring position.
Unfortunately for Eureka, Ayers grounded out to end in the inning.
Oroville put up another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on the Falcons' only error of the contest, leaving Eureka with one final inning to make something happen.
It started well enough, and guess who initiated the excitement?
Stearns ripped a Oroville offering deep to right field for a ground rule double and finished 3-for-3 with two homers, a double and five RBIs.
However, the potential comeback eroded into utter disappointment as Chris Guiterrez struck out looking and Post 95 players galloped onto the field as victors.
Although discouraged by not winning the tournament, Del Grande was encouraged with what he saw during the three-day tournament.
”We've got three to four more tourneys and we've got to build on this, but we obviously wanted to win the Bobby G,” he said.
A short-term memory might be imperative for the Falcons.
They hit the road on Tuesday to face none other than the Post 95 in Oroville.
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