The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Southern A's are District 44 TOC champs

By MIKE BARNHART

There was no last-inning comeback for the A's of the Sunnyvale Southern Little League this time.

Nope, the team called the "Fighting A's" by its manager was more like the "Flailing A's" during the bottom of the sixth in the District 44 Little League Minor Tournament of Champions.

The A's were frantic, running around trying to get three final outs before a 10-5 lead completely evaporated under the heat and pressure of a sixth-inning surge by Moreland's Diamondbacks on June 29 at Washington Park.

Finally, with two outs and the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base, relief pitcher Aaron Johnson managed to get a swinging third strike, a 10-9 victory for the A's and the minor TOC championship. Never before had a Sunnyvale Southern LL team won a District 44 championship--TOC or all-stars--at the major or minor level.

"The Fighting A's never had to play from ahead the whole season, and they didn't know how to fight their own nerves!" explained manager Doug Warmke, who also serves as the SSLL president. "In the last inning, we made three errors in the infield due to nerves. I'm not sure we could have fielded one more ground ball by the time Aaron got that last strikeout."

After the Diamondbacks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning, A's starting pitcher Taiki Maeda recovered to blank them in the second and third frames.

Meanwhile, the A's picked up two runs in the second without getting the ball out of the infield. Jackson Crewe and Justin Bockholt both walked, and Blake Billiet kept the rally going with an infield single. Crewe and Bockholt scored when Moreland infielders misplayed Abishek Rajkumar's pop fly and Erik Krogstad's grounder.

The A's went ahead with five runs in the fifth, then added three more in the sixth. Both rallies had identical starts, with the A's loading the bases on walks to Krogstad and Maeda and a perfect bunt single by shortstop Quentin Warmke.

And on both occasions, catcher Niko Cepeda delivered clutch hits. In the fifth, the left-handed-hitting Cepeda crushed a double over the rightfielder's head to chase home two runs. In the sixth, Cepeda's single to left-center drove in another pair. Crewe, Michael Cammarata and Billiet also had RBIs in the fifth.

The A's were missing two key players during the TOC, Kshithij Shrinath and Prudhvi Gadiraju.

"We have five coaches, including myself, who are all so positive and dedicated to the kids," said Warmke, praising the efforts of assistants Ken Bockholt, Joseph Cammarata, Tony Cepeda and Jen Crewe.

Metro, National out

Despite banging out 13 hits and making just one error, the Sunnyvale Metro Yankees were outslugged in their only TOC outing 18-6 by Moreland. Josh Chestnut rapped three and Jacob Hessler two for the Yankees.

Other Yankees were Kevin and Kyle Avvakumovits, Jeffery Boyanich, Kevin Case, Jackson Ellis, Hunter Haniger, Jordan Kassem, Cole Kundich, Jacob Otonari and Drew Pfeifer.

The Sunnyvale National A's also lost their only game 5-0 to the Santa Clara Briarwood champion.

National's A's included Abraham Arias, David Briones, Albert Burse, Nick DelRosario, Michael Dobson, Isaac Marquez, Izzy Marquez, Cristian Padilla, Radley Rigonan, Derek Rudoi, Dallas Scatena, Brandon Sites and Brian Zeng.

Cubs fall in Þnale

A stunning 10-run fourth inning by the Santa Clara-Briarwood Pirates ended the Sunnyvale National Cubs' outstanding season in the final game of the District 44 Major TOC.

Leading 5-3, the Pirates sent 14 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth and increased its margin to 15-3. When the Cubs did not score in the bottom of the fourth, the game was called due to the 10-run rule. It was the second straight major TOC title for the Pirates.

The Cubs, who finished with an outstanding overall record of 21-4, scored their three runs in the bottom of the first, after falling behind 4-0 in the top of the inning. Tyler Bond's booming double, Kristian Ramirez's bases-loaded walk and Ridge Fernandez's single all drove in runs for the Cubs. A.J. Perez, who scored one of the Cubs' runs, reached base on all three of his at-bats. He had singles in the first and second innings and a walk in the fourth.

Other team members for the Cubs were Jake Collins, Nick Aragon, Shane Bond, Chet Radish, Logan Nowlin, Adam Verbrugge, Austin Cook and Jordan Castro.