Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
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National girls win district, section By Dick Sparrer When Dorothy clicked her heels together and repeated over and over again, "There's no place like home," she was quickly transported from the merry old land of Oz to her home in Kansas. Well, the Sunnyvale Metro Little League major division softball all-stars are saying the same thing this week. Because the Metro all-stars would like nothing better than to return to their hometown of Sunnyvale for the West Regional tournament that will be played Aug. 2–5 at Washington Park. To get there, Metro would have to win the title at the Northern California tournament currently being played in Lincoln, Calif. The tourney began Monday and the finals are set for July 25. Sunnyvale earned its place in the NorCal tournament by taking the title in the Section 5 tourney last week. Metro upset defending champion Gilroy 12-6 in the championship game. Metro had fallen into the tournament loser's bracket with a one-run loss to Gilroy earlier in the week, but the Sunnyvale girls came back to beat Gilroy 5-4 with a five-run, final inning rally to force the final game. Sunnyvale Metro had won the District 44 championship with a tight 2-1 win over Sunnyvale National. Moinica Boardman drove home Samantha Ellis with the winning run in the sixth inning to lift Metro to the tight win. Ellis had opened the top of the sixth by singling on a 3-2 pitch. Two hitters later, Boardman singled her home to break a 1-1 tie. Boardman was the winning pitcher, allowing just one hit in five innings. Emily Rubin singled home Metro's first run in the third inning and Stephanie Parks singled and walked twice. Bianca Lopez doubled home National's only run in the fifth. Patricia Chavez was stuck with the tough loss despite tossing a six-hitter and striking out 13. With the win, the Metro stars advanced to the Section 5 tourney where they made short work of Gilroy. This week Metro is in Lincoln hoping to make the return trip to Sunnyvale for the four-team West Regional. The tourney features champions from Northern California, Southern California, the Northwest and the Southwest. The winner advances to the softball World Series Aug. 7–10 in Portland, Ore. Members of the Metro ballclub include Boardman, Dominque Burchell, Amada Dunn, Ellis, Samantha Jennings, Nicolette McDowell, Katherine O'Brien-Skivington, Abby McNeil, Yuri Okamura, Parks, Rubin, Breana Salazar and Kelly Shaver. Bob Burchell is the squad's manager and his coaches are Tricia Burchell and Scott McDowell. 9–10 softball Sunnyvale National backed up a District 44 championship by winning the 9–10 age group Section 5 softball crown last week. The young girls will advance to the Division 2 tournament set to begin July 27 in Red Bluff, Calif. National outlasted Gilroy 12-2 in the championship game on Saturday. Taylor De Silva doubled twice and Jessica Lopez doubled and was the winning pitcher for National in the game. Sunnyvale had opened the tournament with a 21-13 win over Gilroy. De Silva tossed a five-hitter for the win, striking out eight along the way. De Silva, Christina Lopez, Christine Lozano and Jillian Gerrity each doubled in the win for National. Sunnyvale National edged Sunnyvale Southern 4-3 to win the District 44 championship. Clara Lopez was the winning pitcher in the game that went extra innings. Lopez struck out six in her seven innings of work. Veronica Mapa drove in two runs with a pair of singles to lead the attack for National. Catcher Phylicia Lovelace was singled out for her defensive performance. Emily Pool was 4 for 4 with a triple for Southern, and Emily Henderson was the hard-luck pitching loser, despite tossing a five-hitter. Major baseball The Cupertino National Little League all-stars were going to have to do it the hard way if they hoped to win the District 44 major division all-star championship. National made it to the finals of the district tournament, but the locals would had to beat undefeated Santa Clara Homestead twice to wrest away the championship. It wasn't to be. National lost 5-1 to Santa Clara to wind up second in the district tournament ... and that's not bad at all. Actually, it was the second runner-up finish this season for Cupertino National at the district level. The league's major division champion Cardinals had finished second in the District 44 Tournament of Champions, and now the all-stars have claimed a second-place finish. John Adams doubled and Jason Hogin ripped two hits, but Cupertino National lost 5-1 to Homestead in the title game. Victor Rasor-Thompson struck out five in five-plus innings of work, but he was tagged with the pitching loss. Matt Garber singled home Hogin in the fifth for National's only run of the game. Cupertino National had earned a place in the title game by beating Moreland 10-6 in the finals of the loser's bracket. National snapped a 6-6 tie with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. That was all Chad Estes needed, who tossed two innings of one-hit relief to get the win. John Adams ripped a two-run homer in the fourth to tie the game 6-6. Rasor-Thompson tripled and Chris Gustefson doubled in the win. National fell into the loser's bracket after a tough 3-2 loss to Homestead. Shawn Voight doubled and tripled for National in the game. Sunnyvale National was eliminated after a tough 2-1 loss to Los Altos. J.P. Mapa went the distance to toss a six-hitter but he was stung with the tough loss. Los Altos took a 1-0 lead with a run in the first, but National tied it with a run in the fifth. Danny Moctezuma reached on an error, moved up on a single by Derek Espinoza and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tom Lopez Jr. Los Altos scored in the last of the sixth, though, to claim the 2-1 win. Jimmy Dobson had two hits in the game for Sunnyvale. Sunnyvale National had lost 5-3 to Cupertino National earlier in the tourney, despite a solid pitching performance by James Sierras, who gave up just seven hits and fanned eight. Estes tossed a five-hitter for Cupertino to get the win, striking out 11. Voight ripped three doubles in the win and Adams blasted a two-run homer in the first inning. Rasor-Thompson also doubled for Cupertino. Sunnyvale battled from behind to tie the game 3-3, but Hogin singled home a run in the third to put Cupertino back on top for good. Left fielder Chris Gustafson threw out a runner at the plate to help Cupertino to the win. In other elimination games, Sunnyvale Serra knocked off Sunnyvale Southern 6-1, and Moreland beat Serra 6-1. Sean Denny went the distance to toss a one-hitter to lead Serra to the win over Southern. Denny struck out three in the win. Paul Wadensweiler ripped a solo homer in the third and he also singled to lead Serra at the plate. Akira Moriguchi, Elliot Rivera and Rex Blodgett slapped two hits each in the win and William Harryman doubled. Andrew Pardo and Weston Buckner also had key hits in the win. Outfielder Erik Taubman made a diving catch for Serra in the game. Evan Marshall doubled for Southern. Brett Hardy doubled, but Serra lost a 6-1 nod to Moreland to face elimination. |
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