Sophomore Ayden Tinsley threw six innings, and his older brother Dustin drove in four runs to propel Weston Ranch to a 6-4 win over East Union yesterday at East Union. The victory was the first league win for the Cougars and snapped an 11-game losing streak.
The Cougars (6-19, 1-9) and Lancers dedicated yesterday’s contest to Autism Awareness Month, donned commemorative jerseys, and honored the contributions of people with autism and the autism community.
Weston Ranch got a strong performance from Ayden Tinsley on the mound. The sophomore went six innings, gave up four runs, and struck out eight Lancers.
“Ayden pitched one of the best games I have seen in quite some time,” said head coach David Hager. “He stuck to the game plan and pitched most of the game backward. Unfortunately, he had to come out because of an injury, but I was proud of how he competed from his first pitch to his last pitch.”
The Cougars scratched out single runs in the 5th and 6th innings and found themselves down 4-2 going into the top of the 7th. But, the Cougars loaded the bases in their half of the 7th, and Dustin Tinsley stepped to the plate. Tinsley clobbered a bases-clearing double, and Weston Ranch grabbed their first lead of the day, 6-4. That set up the dramatic finish in the bottom of the inning.
After Ayden Tinsley was removed due to a collision with an EU player, older brother Dustin filled in and closed it out. Dustin struck out the final two Lancers batters and saved the win for his little brother.
“Dustin came in throwing bullets and sat down two in a row on strikeouts for the save,” Hager said.
Steven Bustamante led the Cougars with two hits and collected one RBI. Dustin Tinsley had one hit (a double) and four RBI.
Hager added, “Offensively, we really put together some quality at-bats. We cut down on strikeouts and put the ball in play. We forced errors with our speed. Defensively, we had one mistake that pushed two runs across for EU, but we took care of the baseball. We made several critical plays when they had runners on base that settled us down.”
Weston Ranch will take on Lathrop High School today at Weston Ranch. The Cougars defeated the Spartans 11-8 back on February 28. The first pitch for today’s game is scheduled for 4 pm.
Photos courtesy of Joe Avelar.
