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Little League teams jockey for playoff spots
LittleleagueAs
An A's pitcher gets off his windup after throwing a hard strike in Tuesday's game against the Angels. The Angels would prevail in a tight 3-2 game. - photo by CANDY PADILLA/The Journal

 

As the regular season winds down for Turlock little leaguers, the playoffs are just in reach for both Turlock’s National and American Little League minors and majors.

In the American League minors division, the Bulls find themselves atop the standings at 12-2 in 14 contests after trouncing the Rockhounds (10-3) this past Tuesday 10-9.  

With only one game left for the Rockhounds, the Bulls have secured the first place finish in the regular season after Tuesday’s victory.

For the Nationals AAA team, known as minors in the American, the Rivercats have gone 11-1 after 12 contests and have eased their way atop the standings for the year with second place Lugnuts behind with a 9-4 record.

The Rivercats have allowed the least amount of runs for the season with 46 and have racked up the second most runs with 102.

On the majors side, the Nationals are closing in on the end of the regular season with the playoffs beginning on Monday.

The Marlins are 14-4-1 after 19 games and have clinched the league title with the Pirates, Dodgers and Rockies placing second, third and fourth respectively, along with a postseason berth.

While the Marlins have the most runs scored (186), the Dodgers have managed to allow the least amount of runs scored (101).

“We had another great year. All the Dodgers players worked hard all year and gave it 100 percent. The entire league saw a great season as well. Now we are just getting ready for playoff next week,” Dodgers head coach Robert Tury said.

On the American side, the regular season has a less than a week left of play before the postseason begin for the majors.

Once again the Tigers have nearly secured their second league title in back-to-back seasons after showing a strong performance and posting up over 15 wins in a year where the offense has produced the most runs in the season with 196. The A’s have the second most number of runs with 129.

“This year’s Tiger team is a bit different in that we don’t have a single pitcher that dominates as opposed to last year. This year is a team effort with pitching since we have a lot of kids that can pitch,” Tigers assistant coach Phil Govea said. “They bring a lot to the table and they force a lot of groundballs.”

 

After a 14-6 win over the Yankees on Wednesday, the Tigers have secured first place for the second straight year after beating the team that allowed the least amount of runs (67) for the year.

“Similar to last year is our defense. We play good team defense because the ball is getting more put in play as opposed to last,” said Govea. “We are proud of our kids, they respond well and take instructions well and they’re motivated to get better and from a coaching stand point that is really rewarding for us. It’s nice to finish first, but it’s more meaningful that the kids get better and improve their skill set and to see that is a really rewarding thing.”

The National League playoffs will be starting on Monday with the top four teams moving on to the postseason.

The postseason for the American League will begin sometime after Wednesday with the time and schedule yet to be announced.