On Wednesday, June 24, two Scotts Valley Little League teams advanced to their respective championship games with wins and remain undefeated in tournament play. All-Star tournaments are set to begin next week.
Scotts Valley Astros 6, Gilroy Giants 5
Scotts Valley’s AAA division champion Astros won their fourth straight District 39 Tournament of Champions contest to advance to the championship game in San Juan Bautista.
Gilroy jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first and added a fifth run in the second, but that was all they got as pitchers Jacob Kim and Trevor Ponos threw four shutout innings. Kim was 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs driven in, and Ponos also tripled and knocked in two.
With the game tied in the sixth, Reilly Merlo doubled and advanced to third on a passed ball.
Tate Smith followed with a ground rule-double over the right-field fence, scoring Merlo to win the game.
The high-flying Astros won their first TOC game in a mercy rule-shortened, four-inning 12-0 win against the Live Oak Diamondbacks, as Kyle Raymond, Ponos, Seth O’Brien, Eli Bjorklund and Ben Acker all had two hits each.
Next, they routed the Capitola-Soquel Royals 26-5 in a game in which every Astro hit safely and Eain Lopez was 4-for-4 and Chris Copriviza had three hits along with Kim, O’Brien and Merlo. From there, the San Juan-Aromas Angels were dispatched 12-3, thanks to two hits each from Kim, Merlo and Eric Beraut.
Scotts Valley 7-8s 1, San Lorenzo Valley 7-8s 0
Scotts Valley eked out a tight win over SLV in the 7-8 year-old county all-star tournament at Pinto Lake City Park in Watsonville.
Scotts Valley plays for the championship Friday, June 26, at 5:30 p.m.
The lone run came in the bottom of the second when Ryan Bariteau and Jaxson Haynes led off the inning with infield hits, and Jordan Hendricks and Garrett Hormel drew walks to force in a run.
Scotts Valley’s bases-loaded-nobody-out threat was snuffed when SLV pitcher Cody Edgemon struck out the next two batters and got the third out on a short pop-up.
SLV threatened in the final inning when Trent Walker singled and took to second on an overthrow. One out later, Julian Auldridge scratched out an infield hit to put SLV runners on the corners with one out, but Scotts Valley pitcher Garrett Fisher struck out the next two batters to end the game.
Fisher struck out six in three innings, and teammate Zach Snider struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced.
Previously, Scotts Valley beat Watsonville American 3-1 as Soren Burns got three of Scotts Valley’s six hits in five-inning game called after two hours. Pitchers Snider, Bariteau and Fisher recorded 12 strikeouts and allowed two hits. Before that, Scott Valley beat Capitola-Soquel 10-0 as Hormel and Hendricks had two hits each, and Zach Washburn and Shane Ford both had two RBIs by walking with the bases loaded.
Scotts Valley Little League All-Stars
2009 8-9-year-old All Stars
Antonio (Nicolas) Alvarez, David Burke, Mitchell Gaspar, Joe Murray, Carson Spence, Daniel Shamshoian, Conor Santos, Kyle Raymond, Nathan Pisciotta, Reilly Merlo, Anthony Locatelli.
Scotts Valley 7-8-year-old All Stars
Ryan Bariteau, Soren Burns, Garrett Fisher, Robert (Shane) Ford, Jaxson Haynes, Jordan Hendricks, Garrett Hormel, Christopher Shaw, Zachary Snider, Zachary Washburn, Trevor Wiechmann, Connor Wilson.
San Lorenzo Valley Little League
Majors Division
Pajaro Valley Cubs 11, SLV Dodgers 1
The SLV Giants suffered their first loss of the postseason in a two-hitter to the Pajaro Valley Cubs. Starting pitcher Jared Mailey collected both hits including a solo home run as the Dodgers struck out 12 times.
In the preceding game between SLV Dodgers and Gilroy Giants, the Dodgers banged out 18 hits on their way to a 13-1 win. Denzale Burton knocked in six runs on two hits, including a home run. Brandon Stoddart had five hits, including three doubles and an RBI.
Jared Mailey had three hits and two RBIs and Ari Solomon had three hits and drove in three. Jared Trader had two hits and an RBI and Nick Salibi singled in a run.
San Lorenzo Valley Little League All-Stars
11-12-year-old All-Stars coached by Felix La Capria and Mike Olmsted:
Denzale Burton, Kenny Cella, Nate Gentry, D’Shawn Hopkins, Garrett Kustin, Max La Capria, Cody Lipperd, Jared Mailey, Isaac Newberry, Daniel Peters, Brian Robbins, Brandon Stoddart
10-11-year-old All-Stars coached by Ed Snedeker and Tom Jameson:
Alex Beleutz, Nolan Jameson, Mitchell Kamau, Mike La Capria, Noah Lyon, Ian MacDonell, Michael Mattoch, Keenan Neu, Matthew Pasternak, Blake Snedeker, Ari Solomon, Jared Trader
9-10-year-old All-Stars coached by Mark Mullins, Mark Gentry and Troy Bounds:
Mateo Ballas, Dylan Bounds, Robbie Carling, Tommy Chestnut, Jack Gentry, Logan Heinen, Adam Peters, Cody Peterson, Matthew Robustelli, Nocholas Salibi, Jonah Shabry, Jackson Turner, Charles Weigel
7-8-year-old All Stars coached by Scott Murray and Stevan Sofranko:
Elliot Brown, Max Crandall, Remi Dirck, Howard Forehan, Vernon Freiberg, Ben Kanter, Scotty MacCool, Tanner Murray, Justin Rudrow, Zane Saunders, Paul Sofranko, Taj Yanez
