And, oh, what a summer it was for Lincoln Glen Little League as it racked up two Section 5 titles, six District 12 championships and two District 12 Tournament of Champions crowns.

11-year-olds

The bats of Matt Glomb and Alex Behrendt and the arms of Glomb and Matt Schmidt led the Lincoln Glen Little League 11 year-old all-stars to the Section 5 title, winning three of four games in the double elimination tournament.

Lincoln Glen opened the tourney with a solid 8-1 win over District 44 champ Cupertino National. Schmidt was on the hill and fired an impressive complete game one-hitter. He dominated opposing batters, striking out nine, and had excellent control walking only three.

Glomb got the scoring going by leading off the third with a triple. He scored on Behrendt's one-out single. After Behrendt was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double, three consecutive two-out hits--singles by K.C. Sullivan and Andrew Casalegno and a two-bagger by Schmidt--produced three more runs for a 5-1 lead and the locals never looked back. Glomb finished the game with a single, a double and a triple while Behrendt had three singles.

Lincoln Glen battled District 9 rep Hollister American in three straight games in its fight to claim the section title. The locals grabbed the first encounter by a 4-1 count with Glomb hurling a complete game gem striking out six, allowing only four hits. Lincoln Glen led the whole way with strong offense from Kyle Ray and Behrendt each with two singles plus doubles off the bats of Joe Rivera and Glomb.

With its back against the wall and facing elimination with another loss, Hollister won its next game and the right to face Lincoln Glen for the championship, needing to win twice to pull it off. The locals hit a bump in the road in the first rematch and dropped an ugly 13-3 contest to set up the championship game with all the marbles on the line.

It turned out to be a slugfest that Lincoln Glen hung tough to win by a 12-8 margin. The locals came with their hitting shoes on from the opening stanza. Glomb led off the game with a home run. One out later, Ray drew a walk and then Behrendt lined a double to bring him home for a 2-0 lead.

The locals broke it open in the second by pushing across seven runs on three walks and a double by Rivera and singles by Glomb and Schmidt. Although Hollister fought back, Lincoln Glen would not be denied, playing solid defense and holding on for the win and the championship.

The section title earned Lincoln Glen the opportunity to go on and compete in the Division 2 tourney in Sacramento. The locals put forth a gallant effort but were eliminated, losing their first two games. Section 4 champ Woodcreek of Roseville claimed a 9-1 win in game one.

Lincoln Glen's only run came on a solo home run by Glomb in the third inning. The only other hits were a two-out single by Casalegno in the second and a one-out single by Behrendt in the fourth.

Lincoln Glen was eliminated in an 8-5 loss to Alameda. The offense was led by Glomb with two singles while Casalegno, Behrendt, Ryan Morphin and Jake Wilson each added singles.

Other members of the all-star squad included Kris Olugbode, Drew Bishop and Adam Flores.

Major division

After pounding out an impressive string of games to claim the Section 5 title, the Lincoln Glen Little League major division all-stars looked like they might do more of the same as they opened Division 2 play. They knocked out a 6-2 win over Section 2 rep Redwood Empire.

The story of the game was Kevin Glomb's dominance on the hill for the locals. Glomb scattered four hits over six innings and kept the opposing batters baffled all day. Of the 18 outs recorded in the game, 15 came by way of a strikeout thanks to Glomb.

Glomb took a significant step to help his on cause in the bottom of the fifth inning. The locals were clinging to a 3-2 lead when lightning struck with two outs. K.C. Carr ripped a single and the next batter, Nick Mingione, took one for the team, reaching base when he was hit by a pitch. Up stepped Glomb who sent a big fly over the fence for a three-run dinger and a 6-2 lead that sealed the win.

Lincoln Glen had picked up three runs in the third on walks to Justin D'Angelo and Conner Hatfield, a single off the bat of Matt Anderson, a two-bagger by Carr, and a sacrifice fly from Mingione.

The locals ran headlong into a strong pitching performance when they went up against Woodcreek from Section 4 in game two. The offense never got untracked and in fact could muster only two hits in the game. Joe Sullivan blasted a double and Kevin Garish poked a single.

With its back against the wall, Lincoln Glen needed to grab a win against Niles of Centerville in order to continue on in the double elimination tourney. After giving up a run to Niles in the top of the first, the locals claimed a 2-1 edge with a two-out home run blast off the big bat of Glomb in the bottom of the first.

Niles added three in the second and then Lincoln Glen matched it with three of its own on a combination of walks to Zack Malik and Anderson along with singles by Hatfield and Glomb.

The two teams matched runs in the fourth and headed into the sixth with Lincoln Glen clinging to a 6-5 edge. Unfortunately for the locals, the wheels came off and Niles was able to push across three runs on two errors, a walk and only one hit. When the locals went quietly in the bottom of the sixth, Niles came away with the 8-6 win and Lincoln Glen packed up the equipment for the final time after a very successful tournament run.

Other members of the squad consisted of Kyle Olugbode, Ryan Sommers and Ryan Albin.

By Bob Scudder

Local baseball aficionados will be talking about the Lincoln Glen Little League and the summer of 2004 for many years to come. It was literally a banner year for the locals as they brought home 10 championships--eight all-star titles and two Tournament of Champions titles.

Lincoln Glen was crowned the District 12 Little League all-star champion at the 9-year-old, 11-year-old, major division, 13-year-old, junior division and Big League levels. The 11-year-old and major squads went on to nail down Section 5 championships while the Big League team played in the section championship game but lost in extra innings.

The major all-stars went on to play in the Division 2 championship game, getting edged out by a 2-1 score.

Championship banners also went to the minor and senior division teams in the District 12 Tournament of Champions.

It truly was a summer to remember for dozens of young ball players and their families.