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Published on 07/07/1999 All articles from this issue

LA A's claim Jr. TOC crown

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By Pete Borello / Town Crier Staff Writer

The Los Altos A's last Thursday avenged a long line of Los Altos teams that have come up short against Sunnyvale National.

The A's defeated the Sunnyvale National Orioles 9-5 to capture the District 44 Junior Tournament of Champions at Cupertino High School.

"Sunnyvale has been our nemesis for years," A's manager Jim McGranahan said," and it was finally pay back time."

Led by Joe Chay and Charlie McGillis, the A's used a steady barrage of base hits to take out the Orioles.

"We didn't overpower them with long hits," McGranahan said. "We picked them apart with a bunch of singles."

The A's also did it with defense. Devin Schroeder pitched a complete game for the win, while shortstop John E. Lerch and second baseman Brian Simoni made some stellar fielding plays behind him.

It's been several years since a Los Altos team has won the Junior title, said McGranahan, who coached the team of 13- and 14-year-olds with John Lerch, Al Painter and Tom Chay.

The A's drew a bye in the first round of the tourney and clobbered the Cupertino National Indians 12-2 June 29 in the semifinals. For the season, the A's compiled a 20-2 overall record.

"We had an absolutely killer team," McGranahan said.

Minor setback for Twins

The Los Altos Hills Twins' road to the Minor championship hit a dead end June 28.

The Twins fell 13-5 to the Santa Clara Westside Pirates in the TOC semifinals at Mountain View's McKelvey Park.

The Twins trailed 2-0 after the top of the first inning, forcing them to play catch-up the rest of the way. They sliced the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning when Andrew Geenan scored on Alex Knott's double.

However, Santa Clara extended its lead to 5-1 in the second inning. The Twins responded with two runs in their half of the inning, both driven in by Ryan Guslani.

Los Altos Hills managed to tie the game at 5 in the third inning. They held the Pirates scoreless and then put up two runs on Hanspreet Sandhu's hit.

Santa Clara regained control in the fourth with five runs.

"We kept fighting," Twins coach Larry Guslani said. "but we couldn't keep up with them after that."

Despite the loss, coach Guslani said the Twins had a season to be proud of. They went 18-7 and won playoff games against Moreland and Briarwood.

"We would have liked to win at least one more game, but it was still a great season," the coach said. "This is a great group of kids who really enjoyed playing together."