Saratoga News

Yanks reach TOC finals

Quito hosts two Little League all-star tournaments

By Dick Sparrer

It's that time of year when only the best remain.

Many youngsters compete in the Little League baseball program. But when it comes time for postseason play, only the best of those teams and players remain on the diamond.

It starts with Tournament of Champions play and continues through all-star competition.

And the Saratoga Little League has reached that point in the season.

Saratoga just recently sent teams into District 12 TOC play and is gearing up for the all-star competition.

Saratoga reached the semifinals of the district major division tournament, but the minor division champions went one step further--to the District 12 title game.

The AAA Yankees won the regular season title in the Saratoga Little League to earn a place in the district TOC, then won their way into the tournament championship game against Los Gatos.

The Yanks lost 21-15 to Los Gatos in a slugfest to settle for second in the tourney, but the league is proud of the accomplishment of the local squad.

"For the first time ever a Saratoga team reached the finals of the District 12 competition," said league president Susie Dymoke. "They were eventually defeated, but congratulations for a hard-fought second place."

Members of the team included Andrew Christian, Eric Finnegan, Jimmy Kearney, Jeff Lyn, Mark Rauschmeyer, Christian Reed, Mark Schumacher, Steven Scordelis, Sam Twonbly, Danny Wallace, Jack Wilson and Jon Wurt.

The team was managed by Dave Finnegan, and his coach was Bill Wallace.

All-Star Tournaments

The Quito Little League is currently hosting two all-star tournaments--the District 12 9-year-old tourney at Rolling Hills Middle School on Pollard Road, and the second annual Quito Invitational 8-year-old tourney at Westmont High School on the girls' softball field.

Quito opened the 9-year-old tourney with a tight 5-4 win over American Little League and will now face Union in winner's bracket play this week. Union opened with a win over Lincoln Glen.

Saratoga will face Almaden June 25, 5:30 p.m., with the winner meeting the Los Gatos-Willow Glen winner's bracket winner on June 28, 12:30 p.m.

The 12-team 8-year-old event comes to a close this week with the title game set for June 29 at Westmont. The tournament field included two teams from Los Gatos and one each from Quito and Saratoga

The championship and consolation championship games will be played on Sunday at 1 p.m. on two different fields at Westmont.

Quito Champions

The Devil Rays beat the Mariners two straight games in a best-of-three series to win the major division championship in the Quito Little League regular season.

The Devil Rays lost in the first round of the District Tournament of Champions to the Willow Glen A's, 4-0. The A's went on to beat Saratoga and Union to take the district championship.

In other Quito action, the Giants pulled out an extra-inning win over the Yankees to win the minor division championship. The Yanks had tied the game with five runs in the last of the sixth, but the Giants nailed the win with a five-run rally in the seventh.

The Giants finished the year with an impressive 23-3 record.

The Blue Jays were undefeated in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament to win the farm division championship. The Jays knocked off the Rockies 11-8 in the final game of the tourney.

Colt League Action

The Saratoga Red Sox dropped a tough 12-4 decision to Willow Glen in Colt League action last week.

The Sox actually jumped out to a 2-1 lead with two runs in the home half of the first. Kelly Mathew and Matt Crosby walked, and Jason Worden was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs. Mathew scored when Todd Mosley was hit by a pitch, and Crosby raced home on a wild pitch.

But the Red Sox gave up three in the third and five in the fourth to fall behind, and they were having trouble mounting an offensive attack.

Ryan Orosz broke up a no-hitter with a bad hop single in the fifth, and Chad Christiansen laced a single to center in the sixth. Those were the only hits of the day for the Red Sox.

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