Willow Glen, California Since 1992
Sports
Lincoln Glen Little League senior all-star team: Winners all By Dick Sparrer They played for a half-dozen different high schools during the recently completed spring season. But when it came time for the summer season, the 13 players of the Lincoln Glen Little League senior all-star team came together—and became champions. The Lincoln Glen 'stars battled back from a first-game loss to win the District 12 championships, and they fought their way out of the loser's bracket to win the Section 5 crown. The championship road started with a tight 6-5 loss to Branham Hills in the district tournament. But Lincoln Glen fought back with four straight victories, including back-to-back wins over Cambrian Park in the tourney finals. At the sectionals, Lincoln Glen won its opener, but then lost 5-2 to the Spartan Little League. The locals fought back to beat Cupertino National, though, then beat Spartan twice to win the Section 5 title. With the sectional championship, Lincoln Glen won a berth in the Division 2 tournament that was to begin July 27 in Chico. The winner of that tourney advances to the Western Regional, to be played Aug. 3-8 at John Muir Middle School in San Jose. Lincoln Glen opened the Section 5 tournament, played at Sunnyvale Middle School, with a 10-3 win over Gilroy, the champs of District 39. But the locals lost 5-2 to District 59 champ Spartan to slip into the loser's bracket. With their backs to the wall, the locals outlasted Cupertino National of District 44 10-7. Kevin Becker was on base five times with two singles and three walks, and Justin Johnson singled twice and scored two runs. John Gibilisco also scored twice. The win pushed Lincoln Glen into the tourney finals, but Spartan had to be defeated twice to lose its hold on the title. Scott Righetti took the lead in this one for Lincoln Glen. The right-hander tossed a one-hit shutout, striking out six and walking only three, to lead the locals to a 3-0 win. He helped his own cause with a solo homer in the first inning. Righetti's homer capped a three-run rally for Lincoln. Gibilisco walked and scored when Becker, attempting a sacrifice, reached on an error. Becker took third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by John Shaffer before Righetti ripped his solo blast. So it all came down to one final game, and Lincoln Glen pulled that out 6-4 to win the sectional title. But it was a thriller. The locals took the early lead when Gibilisco walked, stole second, took third on an error and scored on a sac fly by Becker. Lincoln Glen made it 4-0 with three in the third. Michael LoPresti beat out a bunt single and stole second before Gibilisco walked. An out later, Shaffer singled to left to drive home LoPresti. Bryan Hewitt ripped a two-out single to right to drive in Gibilisco, and Shaffer scored when the ball got away in the outfield. Spartan rallied for four in the bottom of the third to tie it, but Lincoln Glen broke the deadlock with two in the fourth. Zac Brandt walked and moved to third on two wild pitches. Gibilisco walked, then Brandt scored when the two pulled off a double steal. Shaffer's two-out single to left drove in Gibilisco. Johnson took a two-run lead into the seventh as he was going for a complete game, but the pitcher walked to lead-off man and gave way to reliever Casey Brooks. Brooks struck out the first batter he faced, but walked the second. That brought to the plate the same batter who had ripped a three-run homer earlier in the game for Spartan, and he represented the winning run. But after a long battle, Brooks nailed the strikeout, then got the next hitter to ground out to short. Johnson picked up the mound win, and Brooks was credited with a save. Gibilisco homered twice and Jimmer Castignani was 3 for 3 and stole four bases in the 10-3 win over Gilroy in the sectional opener. Shaffer doubled twice, Becker had two hits, Righetti homered, Hewitt doubled and LoPresti stole a pair of bases. District champs Lincoln Glen won the District 12 championship, and did it the hard way. The locals lost 6-5 to Branham Hills in the tourney opener despite a 3 for 3 day by Castignani and two hits apiece by Johnnie Reyes and Becker. Castignani doubled twice in the game. Lincoln Glen rebounded with an 11-1 win over Willow Glen. Castignani had three hits and scored four runs, and Rebagliati homered, doubled and singled to drive in five runs. Gibilisco also homered in the win. Righetti was 4 for 4 with a double to drive in two runs and he also went the distance to toss the win in Lincoln Glen's 12-10 victory over Branham Hills. Becker had three hits, Castignani two and Gibilisco doubled. That pushed Lincoln Glen into the tourney title round, but the locals had to beat Cambrian Park twice. And that's just what they did. Righetti homered, Becker singled twice and scored two runs, and Rebagliati singled in a couple of runs in an 8-5 victory. In a single game to decide it all, Lincoln Glen outslugged Cambrian Park 13-7. Rebagliati had four hits, including a double, and Johnson, Becker and Shaffer each doubled and singled twice. Righetti singled and homered to drive in a pair, and Gibilisco singled and homered to knock in three runs. Johnson was the winning pitcher, and Brooks came on in relief to pick up the save. High schools The high schools the Lincoln Glen all-stars represent include Mitty (Becker and Shaffer); Leland (Brandt); Valley Christian (Brooks and LoPresti); Bellarmine (Castignani and Hewitt); Pioneer (Righetti); and Willow Glen (Anthony Diaz, Craig Doleshel, Gibilisco, Johnson and Rebagliati). Willow Glen seniors The Willow Glen Little League fielded teams in the different levels of senior division all-star plays. Members of the Willow Glen senior all-star team were Michael Brunetti, Jeff Coleman, John Flannery, Andrew Ghiossi, Aaron Hogue, David Krause, Brett Levine, Tyler Linvill, Alex Mladineo, Michael Racobs, Will Robinson and Eric Stevenson. Making up the league's 13-14 all-star squad were Brennan Barker, Edin Buljubasic, Austin Ghiossi, Shane Hennessy, Logan Howard, Jason Jeffrey, Jerome Lick, Anthony Lovaglia, Todd Myers, Michael Reiton, Matthew Reiton and Jake Viramontez. Players on the Willow Glen 13-year-old all-star team were Eliseo Anaya, Nick Bourdens, Casey Byler, Sam Canchola, Johnny Cantero, Kellene Condie, T.J. Copple, Neville Kentish, James McCann, Ryan Mladineo, Adam Racobs and Joshua Ricci. |
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