The Sunnyvale Sun
Sports
Southern's 'Fighting A's' reach Minor TOC finale
By MIKE BARNHART
After the Sunnyvale Southern Little League A's scored three wins in comeback fashion during the District 44 Minor Tournament of Champions last week, manager Doug Warmke said the team deserved more than just a berth in the championship game.
"The three TOC victories have all been come-from-behind, one-run wins, earning them the nickname 'The Fighting A's,' " Warmke declared, after his squad's nine runs in its last at-bat shocked Kiwanis of Campbell, 9-8, in a semifinal game on June 24.
The A's entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 8-0, but nine walks and two hits later, the score was tied and the bases were loaded with two outs. Michael Cammarata was hit by a pitch, forcing home the decisive run and securing the A's spot with the Moreland Diamondbacks in the TOC title game June 27 at Washington Park.
Erik Krogstad was an effective pitcher for the A's against a potent Campbell line-up that needed just four innings each earlier in the week to clobber the Santa Clara Homestead Pirates, 18-8, and the Mountain View White Sox, 16-2. Krogstad yielded two runs in the first inning, but nothing during the next three. Taiki Maeda had two of the A's five hits, including a clutch two-run single during the decisive sixth.
"It was the most astonishing comeback of the post-season," Warmke exclaimed, noting that a 6-5 win over the Serra Red Sox and a 9-8, eight-inning triumph over Cupertino National Braves did not lack for excitement or challenges.
The A's had to come from behind three times against the Braves on June 22. The A's trailed 4-2, going into the bottom of the sixth. In extra innings, they were down three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.
After center fielder Aaron Johnson's diving catch ended the Braves' seventh at 7-4, the A's bounced back for three to tie. Abishek Rajkumar and Cammarata both drilled RBI singles, before Justin Bockholt made it 7-7 on Krogstad's sacrifice fly. Later, trailing by a run in he last of the eighth, Johnson's bases-loaded, two-run single up the middle clinched the win for the A's. Niko Cepeda, who caught all eight innings, tallied the winning run. Shortstop Quentin Warmke and first baseman Jackson Crewe turned in solid defensive work.
Two days earlier, two timely double plays, clutch pitching by Maeda and Johnson and a five-run fourth inning helped the A's overcome the Serra Red Sox. Clara Takahashi, Ron Yehoshua and Preston Heen all had three hits for the Red Sox, who outhit the A's 14-5.
Other team members that played for manager Alan Takahashi on the Serra championships team were Harry Crane, Reed Houser, Justin Jiang, Itai Intrater, Alexander Pieb, Robert Poling, Andrew Strotman, Daniel Takahashi and Samuel Willhalm.
