Michael Charters had a couple of hits for the Saratoga Pony League when the locals competed in the North County Memorial Day Tournament up in Sunnyvale.
And it's safe to say, one was much bigger than the other.
Charters came through with a bases-loaded double in the last of the seventh to lift Saratoga to a 4-3 win over Rocklin in the tournament's third-place game.
Saratoga had opened the tournament with three straight wins, beating Los Altos 8-4, North County 6-1 and Almaden 9-5.
The locals were a game away from the finals on Monday morning, but lost 13-1 to San Bruno to fall into the third-place game.
Saratoga made the most of the situation, though, pulling out the 4-3 win and clinching third place overall.
Bryce Allen and Brian Stirm joined forces to toss Saratoga to the win over Rocklin. Allen went four-plus innings before giving way to Stirm in the third-place game. Allen was touched for just one earned run, but left the game trailing because of a pair of unearned markers.
Stirm took over on the hill and blanked Rocklin the rest of the way, allowing just one baserunner--and that runner got to base on an error.
In the meantime, Charters came through with his clutch double in the bottom of the seventh to make Stirm, and Saratoga, a winner.
"All four wins were come-from-behind victories," manager John Worden said of his club's tournament wins. Worden and Roger Allen were the Saratoga coaches.
The top hitter in the tourney for Saratoga was 13-year-old Justin Oliver, who ripped six hits and finished with a .462 average.
Mike Crosby and Jim Huether belted eight hits apiece to lead all Saratoga hitters. Andy Cheng and Allen had five hits each, Stirm and Scott Snider had four hits apiece, and Kelly Mathew ripped three hits. Charters and Scott Lewis each had two hits and Joe Gentzkow added one.
Allen was touched for just three earned runs in 10 innings of mound work for Saratoga. Allen tossed three innings each against Los Altos and Almaden before going four against Rocklin.
Stirm came on to pick up a save against Almaden, getting the side out three-up, three-down. He also nailed the win against Rocklin.
Ryan Orosz and Jason Worden teamed up to beat North County. Orosz was perfect through three innings against North County and Worden gave up just a single earned run over the final three frames.
The four-team Saratoga Pony League sent two teams to the tournament, with Worden's crew coming through with a third-place finish. Their only setback, the 13-1 loss to San Bruno, came against an all-star squad representing a six-team San Bruno league.
Cubs fall to Giants
In regular-season play last weekend, the Saratoga Cubs dropped an 11-4 decision to the Giants of San Jose Pacific Pony Baseball.
Cubs shortstop Matt Joyce led off with a line-drive double over the center fielder's head and Jeff Swanberg followed with a single to left.
The Giants stretched their lead to 8-0 before the Cubs fought back for four runs in the fifth. Joyce, Swanberg, Derek Cartmell and Bill Holbrook each scored runs in the rally.
But a double by Marc Farmer and a single by Scott Vanderpool keyed a three-run fifth for the Giants, and they went on to nail the victory.
Swanberg and Steve Mihalicic had two hits each for the Cubs.
David Harris came through with a clutch two-run triple to key the five-run rally in the first for the Giants. Farmer and Kevin Sparrer each doubled and Jackson Schill singled home a run.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, June 5, 1996.
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