A trip to Torrington is how the Alliance Senior baseball club began their season on Sunday. Alliance used a couple of big 8th inning hits by Creighton Fritzler and EJ Garcia to defeat the Tigers 9 to 6 in extra innings. Down by 5 runs heading into the bottom of the seventh, the hosts plated 5 tallies to force another frame. Alliance goes to 1 and 0 on the year. The Spartans got 5.2 innings from starter Lexton Salcido to storm out to a comfortable lead before the Tiger comeback. Also pitching for the Peltz Co were Tony Escamilla and Braeden Clarke. At the dish, Alliance had 10 hits, led by Kegan Rodriguez who ended with 3 while adding 2 each were Garcia and Fritzler.
Alliance got on the board first in the opening frame. Rodriguez began the action with a double. He eventually scored after knocks by Teagen O’Gorman and Escamilla. The game stayed tight until the fourth despite another hit by Rodriguez in the third. In the top of the fourth, the Spartans went up by 4 after a three run frame. A walk by Nason Thompson started the inning. It was followed by a hit by Fritzler and an error by the hosts that made it 2 to 0. After a walk to Garcia, Clarke reached on another miscue by Torrington that made it a 3 to 0 ball game. The scoring ended after a sac fly by Lexton Salcido. Down 4 to 0, the Tigers failed to score in the last of the 4th.
Inning #5 was a scoreless frame by both teams as Salcido had a 1-2-3 effort on the mound. Alliance’s margin went to 6 in the top of the sixth. An RBI double by Salcido was followed by an RBI walk by Escamilla that made it 6 to 0. Torrington would use a pair of hits in the home half to slice its deficit to 5 as the battle went to the final inning. Garcia had a single for the Peltz Co in the top of the seventh but failed to score. Torrington made things interesting on the home half with 5 tallies. The hosts used a walk, an Alliance error, and four hits to get close. A hitter by batter then knotted the game at 6 and forced extra innings.
In the eighth, the Spartan offense went to work. Rodriguez started the rally with his third hit. It was followed by a walk to Jackson Devlin and a miscue by the Tigers that put the Seniors ahead by 1. Alliance’s margin then went to 3 as RBI hits by Fritzler and Garcia made it a 9 to 6 ball game. Clarke, in relief, set down Torrington 1-2-3 in their last attempt. Final Alliance 9 Torrington 6
ALL 1 0 0 3 0 2 0 3 9
TOR 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 6
10 hits for Alliance Rodriguez 3 Fritzler 2 Garcia 2 one apiece O’Gorman Salcido and Escamilla
The Seniors will take on the Peltz Co Junior club on Wednesday.