Photograph by R.W. Bradford
Another successful Little League baseball season has just ended for the teams in District 44. Champions were crowned in the senior (ages 13-15), junior (13), major (9-12) and 9-10 divisions. In major division action above, Cupertino American third baseman Chris Conroy leaps to grab a throw to the bag in a game against Sunnyvale Metro.
By DICK SPARRER
They tried to do it the hard way.
And guess what... they almost did.
The Sunnyvale Metro Little League all-stars tried to fight their way out of the loser's bracket to win the District 44 title in the 9-10 age division.
And Metro almost did it. The Sunnyvale boys won five games in nine days, but lost on the 10th day to finish second to Moreland Little League.
But Metro certainly went down fighting.
The Sunnyvale kids opened the tournament with a win over Campbell, but lost a day later to Santa Clara Homestead.
One more loss meant instant elimination. But the Metro boys weren't about give up that easily.
They beat Cupertino National 7-3, then whipped Santa Clara Westside 10-5 a day later. Metro pounded Los Altos Hills 13-4 and blanked Santa Clara Homestead 3-0 to move into the finals against Moreland.
Metro would have to defeat Moreland twice in the double-elimination tournament to wrest the title away. Sunnyvale won the first game 11-7, but lost the second in a 9-8 thriller to finish second.
Sunnyvale jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the title game and was up 8-3 after four and half innings. But Moreland rallied for six runs in the home half of the fifth, then blanked Metro in the sixth to clinch the tight 9-8 win.
Chip Lewis singled and doubled to lead a four-hit attack for Sunnyvale in the loss. Scott Boardman and David Gale each doubled for Metro.
Jeff Gordon tossed a five-hitter to lead Sunnyvale to an 11-7 win a day earlier to force the extra game. Gordon went the distance for Metro, striking out 12.
Kevin Jurovich was the hitting star for the winners, ripping a single and two doubles to knock in five runs.
Jurovich's second-inning double came with the bases loaded, driving in Greg Holtum, Joey Story and Joe Waltz to tie the game 4-4.
It was tied 6-6 when Jurovich came up in the fifth, and his run-scoring double started a game-winning five-run rally for Metro. Gordon supported his own cause with a run-scoring single in the rally. He finished with two hits.
Lewis doubled in the win for Metro and Adam Wegener had two hits. Story, Waltz and Ryan Boardman also added hits.
Gordon and R. Boardman had teamed to toss a no-hitter in a 3-0 win over Santa Clara Homestead in the loser's bracket final. Gordon and Boardman went three innings each in the win, striking out three apiece.
Gordon singled and doubled to knock in two runs for the winners ,and Jurovich had two hits.
Jurovich singled, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch to give Metro a 1-0 lead in the first.
Sunnyvale added two insurance runs in the fifth. Wegener walked and Jurovich singled. Both runners raced home on Gordon's double.
Wegener was the star a game earlier when Sunnyvale whipped Los Altos Hills 13-4. Wegener was the winning pitcher and also the leader at the plate, belting three hits to knock in two runs. His two-run single triggered a four-run rally in the fourth. He came back with a lead-off triple in the sixth to start a five-run rally.
Jurovich and S. Boardman chipped in with two hits each in Sunnyvale's 13-hit assault.
Rounding out the Sunnyvale Metro all-star team were Brian Bracchia and Christopher Lisotto. The club was managed by Ray Johnson and his coaches were Ed Lewis and Al Chien.
In other action, Sunnyvale National opened tourney play with a rousing 17-6 win over Mountain View, but lost a game later to Santa Clara Westside 5-1. Adam Aragon doubled for National in the loss.
Sunnyvale National was eliminated a game later in a 4-1 loss to Campbell.
Members of the Sunnyvale National all-star team included Aragon, James Newson, Todd Shelton, Chris O'Donnell, Johnathon Jimenez, Christopher Miller Sedrick, Stephen Virruetta-Vargas, Michael Chiang, Colin Abbenton, John Banks, Ryan Jasinsky, Ernesto Vargas Jr., Jason Simon and Steven Abina. The squad was managed by Paul Abbenton and his coaches were Bob Garcia and Ted Martinez.
Sunnyvale Southern lost 14-3 to Santa Clara Homestead in the first round and fell to Campbell a game later to slip out of the tourney.
Making up the Sunnyvale Southern all-star team were Timothy Yordan, Brent Duka, Joseph Faber, Christopher Bailey, Thomasa Engquist, Jason Birnie, Jason Linn, Daniel Cochran, William Hayes, Kelsey Severns, Daniel Nelson, Richard Kosoglow and Chester Maksim. Larry Faber was the team's manager, and his coaches were Dave Birnie and Jon Engquist.
Cupertino American and Cupertino National each lost their first game, but each one came back to win in the loser's bracket--one at the expense of the other.
American dropped a first-round decision 8-2 to Moreland to fall into the loser's side, but then edged Los Altos American 3-2 to stay alive.
National, meanwhile, drew a first-round bye, then lost to Los Altos Hills. That set up a loser's bracket game between the Cupertino National and American entries.
National pulled out a thrilling 9-8 victory over American, but lost a game later to Sunnyvale Metro.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, August 21, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.