The Los Gatos American League All-Stars carry the big gun with six-foot slugger Johnny Breidenthal, but it was five-foot Matt Wilcox who delivered the big blow in Los Gatos American’s 4-2 win over Los Gatos National Monday in the District 12 Major All-Stars semifinals.
With the win, Los Gatos American will face rival Saratoga tonight at 5:30 in the championship game. The winner advances to Section 5 play in Cupertino starting Saturday.
With his team holding a slim 2-1 lead, Wilcox blasted a hanging curve ball over the center-field wall in the top of the fifth inning for a two-run home run. Coach Dan Brodnik then had to start counting pitches.
Little League rules now limit pitchers to 85 pitches in a game, and Brodnik saw Breidenthal reach that number with one out in the fifth. He brought in Matt Ross, but knew that if Ross tossed more than 20 pitches, he would be unavailable for tonight’s championship game.
Ross threw about 10 pitches to work out of the fifth-inning jam, and he had just enough left to throw to two hitters in the bottom of the sixth, striking both out.
Brodnik then called on his son, Matt Brodnik, to close it out. But it was not easy. Brodnik quickly got two strikes on the first two hitters he faced, but in both instances they then hit curve balls for ground-ball base hits. Mike Ferrari then stepped to the plate, and he ripped a come-backer that Brodnik knocked down, scrambled after and flipped to third for the final out on a bang-bang play.
The American All-Stars took a quick 1-0 lead in the first when Jack Salcido singled to open the game and later scored when Wilcox reached on an infield error.
With Breidenthal in control on the mound, the scored remained 1-0 until the American squad added another run in the fourth. Scott Shelton led off with a ground rule double that bounced over the left-field fence. He moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Ben Bergkamp’s fly ball to deep center field.
Through three innings, Breidenthal had struck out eight and allowed only one base runner after hitting Clay Sauter on the top of the helmet with a curve ball. But he began to show signs of fatigue in the fourth.
Brett Foley opened the inning with a single up the middle and moved to second on a passed ball. He took third on a ground out by Nick Bawden and scored on a single by Aiden Finch to put the National All-Stars on the board.
With the score 2-1, it set the stage for what proved to be the game-winning home run by Wilcox.
The Nationals closed the gap to 4-2 in the fifth when Breidenthal walked both Ferrari and Jacob Marr with one out. Dru Brown then laid down a nice bunt that was bobbled and everyone was safe. Ferrari later scored on a wild pitch.
Breidenthal pitched four and a third innings, giving up two hits, striking out 11 and walking two. National starter Bawden tossed five innings, allowing five hits, striking out four and walking just one.
Los Gatos American is the first Los Gatos team to reach the District 12 Major All-Star championship game since 2001. In pool play, Los Gatos American defeated Saratoga 5-4. In the other semifinal game last evening, Saratoga scored in the bottom of the sixth to defeat host Quito 4-3.
Members of the Los Gatos American League tournament team are Bergkamp, Ross, Breidenthal, Salcido, Aviv Brender, Jack Sexton, Brodnik, Shelton, Ty Clark, TJ Webb, Elliott Herman and Wilcox.
The Los Gatos National team is made up of Bawden, Foley, Brown, CJ Hibbitts, John Scott Cruse, Griffin Jordan, Grady Duggan, Marr, Ferrari, Sauter, Finch and JoJo Ventura.
Comments (0)
Post a comment
There are no comments for this entry yet.