By Dick Sparrer
The dream is the same for every Little League all-star team across the country--to reach the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
And the road to that world series starts in the same place for every team--at the district level.
The Saratoga Little League all-stars share that dream, and they'll start down that road this week when they open play in the District 12 tournament at the American Little League field.
Saratoga opens tournament play July 5, 5:30 p.m., against the Branham Hills Little League all-stars at the American field (Cory Elementary School behind Valley Fair).
Members of the Saratoga major division all-star team include Jeff Anderson, Drew Bayly, Tyson Durm, Mark Elfving, Chris Filip, John Finnegan, Ryan Fletcher, Ryan Fujihara, Scott Moran, Mark Muniz, Adam Silvestri, Derrick Wong and Todd Ziegler.
Dave Finnegan is the club's manager and Gary Hansen, Alan Wong and Mike Filip are his coaches.
Saratoga finished fourth in the district 11-year-old tourney a year ago, and Finnegan is hoping to finish at least that high in this year's event.
The tournament was to begin July 1 when Los Gatos and Quito were to collide in a major division game. Union and Cambrian were to meet on July 2 with Willow Glen and host American battling it out on July 3.
Saratoga and Branham take the field Friday with three games set for Saturday. The Quito-Los Gatos winner battles Almaden on July 6, 10 a.m., with the Union-Cambrian winner to face Lincoln Glen at 1 p.m. The winner of the latter game will face the Saratoga-Branham winner on July 12, 5:30 p.m. The Saratoga-Branham loser plays July 8, 5:30 p.m., against the Quito-Los Gatos loser.
The first loser's bracket game is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday when the losers of the Willow Glen-American and Union-Cambrian games square off.
The tournament championship game is slated for July 17 at American with an if necessary game set for July 18.
In other Little League tournament action, the Saratoga 10-year-old all-stars have advanced to the finals of the winner's bracket. Saratoga will face Almaden on July 3, 5:30 p.m, at the Cambrian Park Little League field (Ross and Foxworthy in San Jose). The locals opened the tournament with wins over Branham and Union.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, July 3, 1996.
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