It’s mid-July, which means it’s the home stretch of the Little League Baseball and Softball seasons, and multiple local All-Star teams are in the middle or have completed deep runs in the postseason.

TALL Seniors play in state tourney

One of the first postseason tournaments to get underway this summer were the Little League Baseball Seniors, with the Turlock American Little League (TALL) All-Star team punching their ticket to the NorCal State tournament with the clinching of District 73 and Section championship banners.

In the district tournament from Pedretti Park on June 21, it took a pair of wins over Turlock National Little League (TNLL) to claim the title. In the morning opener, the TALL seniors won 16-0 in five innings, with nine runs coming in the fifth frame as six different batters collected multiple hits. On the mound was Noah Lundquist, who allowed just three hits and struck out nine in his five shutout innings. The capped off the tournament with 15-5 victory, with five nabbing multi-hit performances.

On the first day of the Section 6 tournament in Stockton on June 29, they similarly cruised to a 12-2 over Morada, a result backed by the power hitting of Rowan Hammack and Jax Souza. Souza’s solo home run in the second inning made it a 2-0 game, while Hammock’s third inning grand slam padded the TALL lead to 7-0. Hammock and Lundquist combined to allow just two hits.

In the clincher two days later, a five-inning 12-1 win, another power surge ensued courtesy of Braydon Keyler and Aidan De Los Santos, as they each hit three-run home runs. Keyler added another hit and totaled a team-high five RBI, while De Los Santos was second with three hits and four RBI. Keyler also dominated on the mound as he surrendered just the one run on two hits while punching out nine. 

The team nearly completed an improbable run in the NorCal State tournament, also in Stockton. After losing the opening game on July 5 to Union City, 3-2, they strung together three straight wins — against Red Bluff (8-4), Petaluma Valley (9-3) and Union City again (8-7). On July 10, though, the run came to an end with an 8-4 loss to Cupertino in the final, entering the contest needing to beat them twice.

TALL 11s head to state undefeated

Also taking the NorCal State stage is the TALL 11s All-Star team, and they’ll do so without having lost a game this summer.

The team began their run to state by outscoring their opponents 23-1 in three games in the District 73 tournament. In their opening game on June 21 against Turlock National, the club won 16-1 in five innings, with Maddox Diaz leading the pack with four RBI on a pair of hits. They followed it up with a 4-0 win over Los Banos in which Micah Meyer punched out 12 and walked just two in a complete-game one-hitter. In the title game, a rematch with TNLL, Levi Oates followed with a stellar pitching performance of his own, striking out 11 and allowing three hits (no walks) in 5.1 innings to help the team to a 3-0 victory.

In last weekend’s Section 6 tournament, it was all 11s again, in the win column and in the box score, as they scored 11 runs in each of their three wins to clinch the title and advance to state. In their opening section game against Morada, TALL scored seven runs in the first two innings in the eventual 11-1 win, with Nolan Armstrong and Titus Hawes each driving in two runs. In the second game against Ripon, a seven-run fourth inning catapulted TALL to an 11-0 victory in four frames. Hawes and Andrew Oliveira each nabbed a pair of RBI, while Meyer and Anthony Bianchi combined for four shutout frames, with Meyer punching out seven and Bianchi retiring two on strikes. 

Rematching Ripon on Tuesday in Salida in the championship, TALL scored another 11 runs on 10 hits on their way to an 11-4 victory. Diaz again collected a pair of hits and drove in three runs, tying teammate Jaxson Ramirez for most in the game.

The 11s begin their run in the NorCal State tournament on Sunday. Regardless of the results over the next few days, their season will come to a close as there is no national World Series to compete in.

TALL 10s fall in section tournament 

Just wrapping up this weekend were the TALL 10s, who won the District 73 championship before nabbing a win and eventually being eliminated in the Section 6 tournament.

To open the district tournament on June 2, TALL won 12-3 over Mariposa County, a game in which Blake Lofton ran wild, driving in a team-high four runs on a triple, a single, and a walk. He also scored after a stolen base. The triples came in bunches in their following game against Los Banos, an 18-5 win, with Shan Keane, Clayton Dickie and Kellen Vasquez speeding around the basepaths. The three-bagger was one of two hits off the bat of Dickie, who drove in three runs. Driving in four on the triple, a walk and a fielder’s choice was Keane, leading all players.

Two days later, they met with Turlock National, proceeding to blank their neighbors 15-0. Emmitt Fetter and Sawyer Vilas combined to allow just two hits in the four innings of play. Vilas struck out seven, Fetter two, setting up a rematch with Los Banos for the title, where TALL won 17-5. The win saw 10 different TALL players work walks and drive in runs, totaling 12 walks, six hits and 11 RBI. Jett Romero led the way, though, with three RBI to lead the team.

The team opened the Section 6 bracket on Saturday with an 18-8 win over Amador East, where Romero drove in four runs on a pair of hits to lead the rally. That rally peaked in the fourth inning, where the Turlock team put up 12 runs to make it a 15-3 ballgame, which turned to be important insurance over an Amador team that scored five more runs over the next two frames. The winning didn’t roll over to the latter rounds, as they fell 6-4 to Ripon before being eliminated by Morada, 9-6, on Monday.

TALL Juniors win D73 title

Also hoisting a District 73 banner was TALL’s Junior team, as they took two games from TNLL and one from Los Banos to secure the title.

In the tournament opener on June 28, Easton Machado had two hits, drove in two runs, and scored twice to help TALL win 8-4 over TNLL. They followed it up with a 14-4 win over Los Banos in which Nate Gilbertson and Baryn Fowlkes each nabbed three hits. Fowlkes drove in three while Gilbertson plated two. Zeke Griffith, meanwhile, reached base four times with a pair of hits and two walks, driving in two runs and scoring twice.

That win set up a rematch with TNLL, which turned into an 11-0 shutout where Eli Rodriguez and Griffith combined for six, two-hit innings and a combined six strikeouts. Offensively, Machado led the team with two runs driven in. 

At the Section 6 tournament, their season came to an end with a 2-0 loss to Patterson and a 15-5 loss to Delta Sunrise.

TALL and TNLL Champs

Before all the All-Star action, there were scores to settle at the city level.

In the Majors, Turlock American’s Twins won over Turlock National’s Giants in the City Championship on May 28.

Down at the Minors level, TALL’s River Dogs defeated TNLL’s Marauders on May 27 to claim the city crown.

Note: More Little League coverage, including of Turlock National Little League Softball, will be in Wednesday’s Journal.