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Published on 07/21/1999 All articles from this issue

Los Altos Hills National All-Stars finish strong

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All-Star

Baseball Update

Town Crier Staff Report

he Los Altos Hills National 7-8 Year Old All-Stars last month capped off its season in fine fashion.

The Pony League team won the championship of one postseason tournament and took third in another.

National started off by winning the four-team Los Altos Little League/Pony Tournament, played June 19 and 20 at the Los Altos Hills Little League Field. National first beat Los Altos Pony Blue 17-6, then won back-to-back games against Los Altos Pony Red by scores of 21-7 and 12-5.

The following weekend, June 25-27, National earned third place in a non-sanctioned tourney at Kennedy Junior High in Cupertino. The event featured 12 teams from Burlingame to Campbell.

National beat Campbell 15-14 in the opener, scoring the decisive run in the final inning. National then walloped Burlingame Red 25-2 and edged Moreland 17-14. National ran into the heat and a hot San Carlos team the next day, though, falling 13-7 to place third.

The National team consisted of 12 players selected by league coaches based on their play in the regular season.

Team members included James Balassone, Ross Bilger, Matt Bowden, Tom Cole, Michael Coleman, Max Lippe, Carter Lyman, Bryan Macomber, Martin Manoukian, Graeme RadLo, C.J. Thede and David Yuschak. The players practiced nine times in 14 days.

"The boys should be very proud of their hard work and dedication in practice," said Brad Lyman, who coached the team with Mike Cole, David Thede and Ed Yuschak, "which resulted not only in success in the tournaments but also a big improvement in their skills and understanding of baseball."

Other All-Star action

The Los Altos American Little League Junior All-Stars entered this week still in pursuit of the District 44 championship.

The team of 13- and 14-year-olds were set to play Cupertino National this past Monday in Sunnyvale. A win would put Los Altos in the title game.

Los Altos won its first two games of the double-elimination tourney, beating Moreland and Tri-Cites by identical 11-1 scores. But Los Altos dropped into the loser's bracket on Saturday with a 14-4 loss to Sunnyvale National at Kennedy Junior High in Cupertino.

Los Altos struck first Saturday with two runs in the second. The inning started with a single by Derek Fletcher and a walk to Sean Girouard. Brad Libuit and Johnny Lerch then drove them in with back-to-back singles.

Los Altos fell apart in the fourth inning, though, and could not mount a comeback.

In the Major tournament, Los Altos dropped a 10-5 game to Campbell last Thursday at Serra Park in Sunnyvale.

Richard Gorman led Los Altos with two hits and an RBI.

Two days earlier, Los Altos smothered Santa Clara Westside 14-0 at Wilson Park in Santa Clara. Matt Long went 3-for-3 with a homer and four RBI. He was also the winning pitcher, striking out seven batters.

At the 9-10 level, Los Altos No. 1 beat Sunnyvale National 12-2 July 12 at Serra and Campbell beat Mountain View 6-3 last Thursday at Serra.