Pintos' bats come alive in win against Eldon

<p>Democrat photo/Kevin Labotka</p><p>The California Pintos cruised to a 15-1 victory against Eldon in a summer league game June 21. The Pintos added ten runs in the game’s final two innings to seal a resounding win.</p>

Democrat photo/Kevin Labotka

The California Pintos cruised to a 15-1 victory against Eldon in a summer league game June 21. The Pintos added ten runs in the game’s final two innings to seal a resounding win.

ELDON, Mo. - The California Pintos baseball team showcased an offensive explosion June 21 as it defeated the Eldon Mustangs 15-1 in summer league play in five innings.

The Pintos led 2-0 after the top of the first inning, but Eldon added its first and only run of the contest to keep the score close early on at 2-1 after the bottom of the second inning.

In the top of the third inning, the Pintos began adding to a growing tally. California loaded the bases with three hits in a row to start the inning. Then, the Pintos scored two runs as a pop-up landed between third base and the Mustangs' shortstop, allowing a couple of runs to score to make 4-1. California added another run to make it 5-1, all with just one out in the inning.

In the bottom of the third, Eldon had a runner on first with one out but California ended the inning with a double play; a ball was caught in the outfield and thrown back to first for the final out.

California pulled away even further in the top of the fourth inning. With two runners on base, the Pintos added another run to make it 6-1. Five runs later, the Pintos were cruising at 11-1.

California scored four more times in the top of the fifth and final inning to make it 15-1 before closing out the game, with just one run allowed, in the bottom of the fifth.

Head coach Steven Stock said during the summer, the team is going to be working on its attitude and the little parts of the game, as well as working with the younger players.

"So far we are doing alright, we had a couple weeks of camp and got some of our younger kids conditioned in and they are doing pretty well," Stock said.

On offense, Stock said the team approached its at-bats in a relaxed way.

"(Eldon's) kids were not throwing any breaking stuff over the plate well. So we could just sit on fast balls," Stock said. "One thing about summer is (there's) maybe not the pressure or whatever you want to call it for lack or whatever reason, kids feel free and easy and just go up there and swing that way. A lot of the times, we get better results."

Stock said the team is just trying to get better as the summer moves along.

"Our biggest objective in the summer, again, is to get the new kids in here and get them to learn what we are trying to do and what their capabilities are," Stock said. "And work on little things that we learn in the summer and not have to worry about during the season."