Baseball Update
Town Crier Staff Report
he Los Altos Pony Baseball Bronco All-Star Team won the South Bay Bronco Sectional Tournament Championship July 18 in Morgan Hill.
Along the way to the title, the team of 11- and 12-year-olds overcame temperatures of more than 100 degrees to beat Washington Manor 13-0 and Morgan Hill 15-5 the opening weekend.
Los Altos then defeated San Jose 7-1, sparked by outstanding defense and strong pitching.
Los Altos suffered its first loss of the double-elimination tournament July 17, falling 3-2 to Fremont in the bottom of the seventh inning. But Los Altos regrouped to beat Fremont 6-4 in the final game of the tourney. This was Los Altos Pony's second sectional title in three years.
Los Altos was led by strong pitching and hitting from Troy Haury, Kyle Morrison and Erik Davis. Defensive stars included Justin Ko, Paul Marcoux and Alex Dreyfuss. Timely hitting by David Ronconi, base running from Danny Wilson and an all-out effort from the rest of the team carried Los Altos to the title.
The team also includes Tom Cronin, Bobby Graviano, Ted Hong, Mike Lawler and Patrick O'Donnell. Los Altos is coached by Tom Davis, Gregg Morrison and John DiCello.
The team next moved on to the Northern California Regional Championship Tournament, which started last week.
The Los Altos Pony "B" team also performed well in its sectional tournament in Blossom Valley, taking third.
The developmental team was made up of 10 11-year-olds and only three 12-year-olds.
They won three games and only lost to eventual champ Blossom Valley, 11-8.
Strong pitching performances were turned in by Jason Marshalla, Steven Flory and Tim Busbin. Michael Morales and Busbin led the offensive attack with support from Kevin Mueller, Brendan Ward, David Krueger, Nate Skelton, Jason Panganiban and Jared Bucko.
The team played outstanding defense in the tourney, especially Brian Bianchi, Danny Clarkson and Alec Nelson.
Los Altos was coached by Skip Mueller, Mark Busbin and Dave Salter.
Junior Little League
Behind a five-hitter by Daniel Morrell and solid defense, Sunnyvale National beat Los Altos 11-1 in the District 44 All-Star championship last Thursday at Miller Junior High in San Jose.
Sunnyvale started strong with a two-run first inning, sparked by Craig Maynard's bases-loaded single. Sunnyvale padded the lead with a run in the second and another run in the third.
Los Altos scored a run in the fourth after Brad Libuit hit a double and Joe Chay drove him home with a base hit.
In the top of the seventh, Sunnyvale broke open the game by scoring seven runs.
Los Altos reached the championship of the double-elimination tourney by beating Sunnyvale 8-5 a day earlier.
Los Altos trailed 5-4 entering the bottom of the fifth, then scored two runs on Shawn Girouard's single to go ahead. Los Altos enhanced its lead in the sixth with two more runs.
Devon Schroeder earned the win for Los Altos, allowing six hits in five innings. Garrett Herfkins closed the game with three strike outs after loading the bases with walks. Los Altos' leading hitter was Ryan Lee, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Senior Little League
Sunnyvale National beat Los Altos 10-7 in the July 20 championship at Cupertino High.
Los Altos' Thomas Roux led off the game with a line drive home run to center. However, Sunnyvale's Javier Heredia countered with a towering homer to left in the bottom of the first.
Los Altos came back with three runs in the top of the second on RBI doubles from Matt Kramer and Cam Mathews. Sunnyvale responded again, this time adding four runs in its half of the second.
Los Altos tied the score at 7 in the top of the fifth. Daniel Hoffman hit a double with two outs and then scored on Ron Remmel's single.
Sunnyvale took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a passed ball, then added two more runs for good measure in the sixth.
Santa Clara Valley Colt
The Santa Clara Valley Colt All-Stars won their first tournament championship last week, winning three straight games.
Los Altos players on the team include Mark Kolich, Chris Virgilio and Jeff Wickware.
Santa Clara Valley beat Pleasanton 3-2 in the opener, then defeated Morgan Hill 4-1 and wrapped up the title last Thursday with a 10-7 victory over the same Pleasanton team.
Santa Clara Valley now moves onto the Colt Region Tournament, which starts this week.