Sunnyvale Serra A's win TOC minors

By Dick Sparrer

Sunnyvale sent two teams to the finals of the District 44 Tournament of Champions--one in the major division and another in the minor division.

And one of them came out as a TOC champion.

The Dodgers of the Sunnyvale Metro Little League played the Rockies of the Santa Clara Homestead Little League for the major division title, but dropped a tough 6-3 decision.

The A's of the Sunnyvale Serra Little League, though, brought home a TOC crown with a 10-5 victory over the Giants of the Moreland Little League in the minor division tournament.

Minor division

Paul Siri had two hits to drive in five runs to lead the A's to the 10-5 win over the Giants. Siri had a two-run single in the second and a three-run triple in the third to help the A's jump out to a 9-1 lead and cruise from there to the victory.

Sean Denny struck out six in three innings of mound work to get the win and Weston Buckner fanned seven in three innings of no-hit relief to get the save.

Center fielder Andrew Blazensky came through with the defensive gem of the game when he made a diving catch on a sixth-inning line drive off the bat of Andrew Romani.

The A's took the early lead with two runs in the first when a walk to Denny, a single by Leo Janisse and a walk to Blazensky loaded the bases. Chase Cruickshank and Buckner each followed with run-scoring singles.

Serra added two more in the second when Josh Buckley walked and Denny and Janisse each singled. Siri singled home a pair of runs to give the A's a 4-1 lead.

Sunnyvale put the game away with five runs in the third. Josh Lequieu singled and Buckner reached on a fielder's choice. Buckley's single loaded the bases and Janisse was hit by a pitch to push home a run. Siri's triple cleared the bags, then Siri scored on a single by Blazensky.

To get into the finals, the A's ripped the Santa Clara Homestead Cubs 24-9, turned back the Mountain View White Sox 14-4 and edged the Sunnyvale Metro Angels 8-6.

In the win over Mountain View, Siri and Blazensky each singled and doubled and Grant Miller singled home two runs in the 14-4 victory. Denny doubled and also tossed three innings to get the win, fanning five, and Lequieu also doubled.

The Giants beat Campbell 8-4, Santa Clara Briarwood 8-4 and the Cupertino National Braves 16-6 to reach the finals.

In other games in the tournament, the Santa Clara Briarwood Yankees edged the Santa Clara Westside Pirates 8-7; the Mountain View White Sox nipped the Sunnyvale National A's 9-8; and the Santa Clara Homestead Cubs outslugged the Los Altos Orioles 22-20 and ripped Cupertino American 13-1.

Major division

Pat Malley ripped a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Santa Clara Homestead Rockies to a 6-3 win over the Sunnyvale Metro Dodgers in the finals of the District 44 major division Tournament of Champions.

The Dodgers were up 3-0 heading into the last of the sixth inning when the Rockies tied the game on a solo homer by Brandon Hamilton and a two-run homer by Nathan Garcia.

Metro had taken the lead with a run in the first when Scott Isaak doubled and scored on a single by Richard McDowell.

The Dodgers added two more in the top of the sixth. Yassar Clor singled, took second on a sacrifice by Nick Dunn and scored on a single by Elmer Caliva. John Voss and Isaak each reached on errors, Clor scoring on Isaak's infield roller.

Clor singled and doubled for the Dodgers in the game and Jonas Krave had two hits.

Clor struck out 10 and blanked the Rockies on no hits over the first five innings.

The Rockies had moved into the finals with wins over the Moreland Cardinals, 5-1, and the Santa Clara Westside Cubs, 4-3.

The Dodgers beat Los Altos 1-0, Tri-Cities 10-0 and the Sunnyvale National Dodgers 7-0.

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