There are 384 Little Leagues in Northern California, which is considered a state by the national Little League organization. Of those 384 leagues, 330 fielded 10- and-11-year-old All-Star teams this year. After several dozen divisional and sectional tournaments in which only one team advances to the next bracket, just six teams in Northern California are left in the hunt for a state crown.
One of them is Scotts Valley, which has won its first two state tournament games and play and will continue competing for the state title, to be decided Friday, July 30.
“The success of the 11s is a team that has pulled together, with contributions from everyone on the roster impacting the outcome,” coach Jeff Lane said.
The squad is Eric Bereaut, Eli Bjorklund, Andrew Christensen, Travis Lane, Gregory Neiger, Seth O’Brien, Cooper Rains, Georgia Parsons, Trevor Ponos, Robert Riemer, Owen Rockow and Jacob Utic.
Including the district final, three sectional games and two state games played thus far, the team’s batting average is .392 and on-base percentage is .465 against the elite teams in Northern California, most of which draw from larger player pools than Scotts Valley.
The pitching has been led by starters Lane and Neiger, with Utic and Riemer working in relief and Ponos filling the closer role. Lane and Utic lead the team in hits with 10 each, while Ponos and Riemer both have nine. Coach Lane said Scotts Valley also has benefited from great production in the eight and nine spots of the batting order, where O’Brien, Beraut and Rockow each have four hits and four runs scored.
The team played its first game in the state tournament Saturday, July 24, against powerhouse TriCity of Rocklin that was 7-0 and had won all of its previous games by at least eight runs each. Scotts Valley won, 11-6.
Next was Morada from Stockton, which had won its sectional tournament with a 20-1 score and outscored its opponents 44-2 in the three games before Scotts Valley upended it, 7-1.
“Losing to little Scotts Valley was not anything our state tournament opponents’ fans, players and coaches ever gave any chance of happening,” Scotts Valley league president Doug Marshall said after watching the team’s two games in Danville. “I’ve marveled each time at the surprise they have when it washes over them that the team from lowly District 39, with no home-run hitter, no flame-throwing pitcher, and a girl, is going to — or just did — beat them.”
Scotts Valley was scheduled to play Danville, another statewide favorite whose squad won the state championship last year, after press time Wednesday, July 28. A victory would send Scotts Valley directly to the finals on Friday; a loss would mean they’d play Thursday to try to earn a shot at the Friday finals.
Two more wins would give the Scotts Valley Little League its first state championship since 2001. That year, the 9-10 squad included Scotts Valley native Robbie Erlin, now one of Major League Baseball’s top pitching prospects in the Texas Rangers organization.
“Especially when considering our size, it is a truly special league we have here,” Marshall said. “I have to remind myself how fortunate we are, since a lot of leagues have never had a state championship team at any age.”
SLV takes second in sectionals
The San Lorenzo Valley Little League 11-and-12 year-old All-Stars finished second in the state sectional tournament, finally falling to Hollister National 12-2 on July 21.
The game was a shutout until the bottom of the sixth, when SLV’s bats started to come alive with two outs. Bryce Nunes, Robbie Carling and D’Shawn Hopkins all chipped in hits to tally SLV’s two runs.
San Lorenzo Valley Little League was officially formed in 1958, and since 1987, only one other 12-year-old team has made it past the District 39 championship. This year’s 12s, led by coaches Tom Jameson and Kevin Neu, won District 39 and went 3-2 in the state sectional tournament.
