The Los Gatos Little League 11-year-old all-stars won the Section 5 championship. Members of the team included (front row, l-r) Jackson Dallas, Blake Morrison and Paul Politi; (second row, holding banner l-r) Nick Kalpin and Mike Denevi; and (back row, l-r) Garrett Blackwell, Nicky Chow, Cole Meleyco, Lucas deMilo, C.J. Olsen, K.C. Silva and Danny Wall.

All-stars at Western Regionals

Little League 'stars win NorCal crown

By Dick Sparrer

It couldn't have been more exciting. The Los Gatos Little League major division all-stars were running out of time.

They had won their way into the finals of the Northern California Divisional Tournament, and they were playing Alpine/West Menlo for the championship.

The winner would go on to the Western Regionals in San Bernadino, the last step before taking the trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The loser would go home.

Even the most dedicated Los Gatos fans had to have their doubts. The local boys were down 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and the Alpine all-stars were just three outs away from a championship.

As it turns out, they still are.

Los Gatos came through with an incredible three-run rally to pull out a thrilling 4-3 victory to claim the Northern California championship.

With the win, Gatos advanced to the Western Regionals and opened the rugged tournament with a game Sunday against Hawaii in San Bernadino. Los Gatos will play teams from New Mexico, Utah and Nevada on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week in the round robin portion of the tourney.

Should the Gatos 'stars make to the finals in the Western Regionals, they would play in a game nationally televised by ESPN on Aug. 14.

It took a series of thrilling one-run victories for Los Gatos to win its trip to San Bernadino.

Gatos opened the Western Regionals with back-to-back 4-3 wins over Tulare National and Alameda, then beat Alpine 2-1. Alpine fought its way out of the elimination bracket with a 6-2 win over Alameda, then tripped Los Gatos 5-1.

That set up the championship game between Gatos and Alpine, and the locals boys clinched the win and the title with their third 4-3 win of the tournament.

But none was more exciting that this one.

Los Gatos went into the home half of the sixth down 3-1. Bricklin Foley worked a walk to start the rally and Colby Moore reached on an error.

Noah Henry hit a slow chopper to short, and the throw to try to force Foley at third got away, allowing Foley to score and the runners to move to second and third.

Woody Wilkerson, who had already homered in the game, was given an intentional walk to load the bases. But Los Gatos foiled the strategy when Kyle Blair and David Martini followed with run-scoring singles to tie, then win the game.

Wilkerson was the winning pitcher, going the distance to toss a two-hitter. He struck out three, walked two and hit one Alpine batter.

Wilkerson also hit one Alpine pitcher ... for a solo homer in the fourth.

Alpine picked up single runs in the first and third, and Wilkerson's homer cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth. Alpine scored again in the top of the sixth on Robby Salomon's second solo homer of the game, but Gatos won it with the big rally in the sixth.

Will Kapp singled for the only Gatos hit in the game, and second baseman Eric McDonald and third sacker Moore were the defensive standouts.

After beating Tulare National and Alameda to open the tourney, Los Gatos won a big 2-1 nod against Alpine to stay alive in the winner's bracket.

Wilkerson tossed a two-hitter for the LG win, striking out eight and walking just two.

Foley led a four-hit attack for the winners with a single and double.

Alpine scored a run in the first, but Gatos tied it in the second. Blair singled, Mitchell Benedetti walked and Martini reached on an error to load the bases before Foley cracked a run-scoring single.

Los Gatos snapped the tie with another run in the fourth. Matt Ellis walked and raced to third on a double by Foley. Kapp ripped a clutch single to drive home Ellis with what would prove the winning run.

Los Gatos lost 5-1 to Alpine a game later despite Wilkerson's single and double, but Gatos came back with the come-from-behind 4-3 win to clinch the title.

LLL sponsors

It's costly to send a Little League baseball team to the Western Regionals, and the Los Gatos Little League is looking for sponsors to help defray those costs.

Current sponsors include Sweeney, Mason, Wilson and Bosomworth, Attorneys at Law; Tim Blackwell of Blackwell Bros.; Hardtke World of Baseball; Toeniskoetter & Breeding, Inc.; Mark Carlquist; and George Shannon.

Anyone interested in helping to sponsor the team can contact Carlquist at 408.354.1955.

Some information for this story was taken from the Los Gatos Little League website (www.lgll.org) and from South Bay Sports (www.southbaysports.com), the official website of the divisional and sectional tournaments. Check South Bay Sports for the latest updates on youth sports events in the area.)

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