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Sports

Murrieta Little Leaguers Advance in Quest for Section Title

The Murrieta National Little League Majors All-Star team loses one, then picks one up in quest for Section 9 title.

The Murrieta National Little League All-Stars Majors team avoided elimination by defeating District 72 Riverside Eastvale Monday night 9-3 at .

The majors all-stars team, made up of 12 year olds, started off the game by scoring three runs in the first inning with a leadoff triple by Zach Frieze and a base-clearing two-run double by Markus Melero.

Hunter Slezak pitched a complete game for the Murrieta National team, allowing only three runs, giving up two home runs to the Eastvale team.

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“It was all pitching and defense today,” said Murrieta National coach Joe Slezak.

Murrieta National tacked on the rest of their runs in the bottom of the second inning with a two-run double by Frieze, followed by a standing double by Josh Weeks and a two-run triple by Spencer Adams.

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“It was all about pride today,” Slezak said. "We took the mentality this is our home field and somebody else is coming here so we had to have the pride in order to stand up for it.”

The Murrieta Majors All-Stars protected their lead with strong defense behind Josh Weeks, who saved a run with a diving catch in the top of the sixth inning to protect the lead.

“You had to bring the defense in order to play these guys the way we did,” Slezak said.

Murrieta National continues to advance in the all-star competition, which began after they captured their first district all-star banner on July 6 against Temescal Valley though they .

The majors all-stars from Murrieta have to win three more games to advance to the Section 9 championship game, with their next game being tonight at 6 p.m. at Los Alamos Hills Sports Park.

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