Saratoga won three of four games in the tournament, but it was the single loss—a 12-8 defeat at the hands of Almaden South on June 19—that cost the local kids a berth in the tournament playoffs.

Saratoga and Almaden South tied with matching 3-1 records, but South advanced by virtue of its win over Saratoga.

The bats were more than alive for Saratoga when the 9-year-olds faced San Jose American on June 24. Saratoga walked away with a 13-5 victory with four players having multiple hits and seven players scoring at least one run.

Robbie Parden, Matthew Round and Ryan Johnson each roped two singles with Zachary Hansen smashed a single and a triple. Parden scored two runs, Johnson crossed the plate three times, Round came home once and Hansen arrived safely twice. Kyle Dozier knocked a single and scored two runs, while Steve Berman ripped a single and scored a run to help in the win. Berman also threw five innings and had nine strikeouts.

Saratoga lost to Almaden South 12-8 but defeated Quito 5-0 on June 22 with Hansen ripping a double and scoring a run. The other runs came from teammates Matt Wong, Parden, Round and Berman. Johnson tossed a one-hit shutout, striking out four.

Saratoga downed Union 6-1 on June 26 with Berman scoring twice, and Dozier, Parden, Johnson and Hansen all coming home safely once. Dozier started on the mound and had three strikeouts in five innings. Parden came on in relief and struck out the final three for the win.

Also playing on the Saratoga team were Kyle Samuels, Dylan Jew, Keaton Matusich, Nicholas Round and Cameron Schmelzer.

The Quito 9-year-old all-star team finished the tournament 1-3. After defeating Union 10-8 in its first game on June 19, Quito lost three straight to Saratoga 13-5 on June 22, to Almaden South 4-3 on June 25 and to Almaden North 10-5 on June 26.

Arjay Parhar was the only source of offense for Quito in its game with Saratoga. Quito was held to a single base hit off Parhar's bat, but they also held Saratoga to only one hit thanks to the combined efforts of Ryan Saul and Kevin Scott on the mound.

In Quito's game against Almaden South, Scott was not just a force on the mound, but at the plate as well. Scott ripped a triple and two singles, scored two runs and struck out two batters from his spot on the hill. He had help from teammates Ryan Hoerger and Dominique Zucca, who both had two base hits on the day, but could not bring down the Almaden team.

T.J. Conroy led his team at the plate against Almaden North with two singles. Scott was at it again at the plate, with a base knock and three runs scored. Zucca also ripped a hit for the Quito team.

Rounding out the Quito team were Eric Spence, Michael Dugan, Michael Lima, Peter White, Jacob Sisneros and Brad Frederick.

11-year-olds

In other action, the District 12 11-year-old tournament got under way last weekend with a full slate of eight games at the Saratoga Little League's Congress Springs Park fields.

Pool play will continue through July 2 before the top two teams in each pool match up in two semi-final games on July 5 at 5:30 p.m. The winners will play for the championship on July 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Congress Springs.

Quito showed up with their hitting pants on. Their hot bats pounded out 15 hits resulting in a 15-3 win over American. Pitcher and lead-off batter Kyle Peck was double trouble for American. He blasted four hits including a triple and a double, scored three runs, and fired four innings of quality pitching to stymie American batters. Richard Prigatano was also a tough out coming through with two singles and two doubles and scoring three runs.

Quito pushed across runs in every inning but the fifth with consistent hitting all through the lineup. Justin Leong and Thomas Marlen stroked two singles each. Brett Kentera, Brett Morales and Nick Streit each added a hit. Collin Takaki worked his way on three times with walks and scored twice. Steve Economy also scored a run.

South Pool play saw Almaden South take on Saratoga in a slugfest that ended with Saratoga hanging on for a 14-10 win.

The offensive punch for Saratoga was led by Greg Johnson, who blasted a two-run homer in the outburst in the first inning. Brandon Morales led all hitters, pounding out three singles, while Kevin Smith and Will McKiernan added two hits each. McKiernan ripped a double which rattled off the fence.

Due to Almaden South's strong offensive attack, Saratoga was forced to use five pitchers in the game. Morales took the mound as the starter and went three innings. He was followed by Smith, Dillian Pak, Andrew Barna and Ricky Ramirez, who combined for three innings of shutout pitching. Ramirez did an especially outstanding job when he came on in the sixth inning with two runners on and no outs to get the final three outs without allowing a run to score.

According to coach Shelley Smith, the win by Saratoga happened because "everybody on the team did something to contribute to the win. They either made a good defensive play, pinch ran, got a hit offensively or a big pinch hit."

Bob Scudder contributed to this story.