The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Cupertino American wins three in a row to claim senior crown

By MIKE BARNHART

Cupertino American came out swinging in the District 44 Senior All-Star Tournament and never let up, claiming three straight games and clinching its second district title in a row.

American banged out 33 hits while winning its games by a combined score of 34-9. It used a 15-hit attack to hold off Tri-Cities 9-7 in the championship game, July 12 at Miller Middle School. After successfully defending the district flag, American moved on to the Section 5 tournament, July 15-19 in Milpitas.

A six-run fourth inning, featuring Greg Wallis' two-run triple and Quinn Sullivan's RBI double, gave American an 8-0 lead. Led by winning pitcher Alex Motzny, American had a shutout through five innings. T-C scored all of its runs in the final two frames, behind RBI singles by Hiro Yamamoto, Shian Vidange and Daniel Pavlovic, Chris Pummel's bunt hit and James Roberts' double.

Alex Guthrie, who totaled four hits in American's first two games, pitched a five-inning two-hitter in a 14-1 semi-final win over T-C. He struck out nine batters and walked just one.

Other members of the championship team were Andy Meunier, Fred Sherburne, Ben Englander, Ajay Arora, Steven Craft, Zach Chastain, Daniel Byars, Guirae Jang, Kevin Reuter and Elliot Wagner-Rosales.