It was a rocky start at State for the Turlock American Little League 10-year-old All-Stars who lost their first game from Twin Oaks Park in Rocklin on Saturday but followed up on Monday with a 14-7 win over Danville. 

“It is a tremendous accomplishment by our 13 players. The kids came motivated after a little letdown we had on Saturday, but we talked… and we told them to play Turlock baseball and we will win our next,” said Turlock head coach Courtney Keyler. “And we did, threw pretty well, but they had some very good hitters and we did the best we could, we hustled, moved and played very good defense. Great win for our program.” 

As of Monday, Turlock was 1-1 in tournament play.

In Saturday’s game against McKinleyville Turlock had to battle. 

“We faced an amazing pitcher and had trouble hitting,” said Keyler. “A very tough battle for us.”

Turlock went up first on Saturday when they got a run on a wild pitch to score a runner from second and to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning. 

Cam Kelley, Aidan De los Santos, Braydon Keyler and Cruz Contreras pitched for Turlock. 

Up 1-0 in the top of the sixth, Turlock had a few things not go their way and they saw four unanswered runs cross home plate to shift momentum and make it 4-1.

McKinleyville added another run and the score read 5-2. 

“I think the day off was beneficial for our team since we needed to re-focus and it burned up other teams in pitching,” said Keyler. “We threw 20 pitches max except for one guy, and as a result we have pitching for the rest of the tournament after Monday’s game.” 

In Monday’s game, Turlock met Danville in a high-scoring affair that saw Turlock hit four homeruns combined between Braydon Keyler (3) and Mason Hackler (1). 

In the first inning, Turlock went up when Keyler smacked a three-run line-drive homer over the fence for a 3-0 lead after Cruz Contreras and Hackler scored. 

The score read 3-1 after the first inning. 

More runs and homers ensued for Turlock as Hackler drilled his only homer in the fourth inning over the right field wall, while Keyler followed up with a solo shot of his own and the score read 9-3 at the end of the fourth. 

Turlock capped off the game with a five-run inning in the fifth to go up 14-5. 

Danville notched a pair of runs to end the game, 14-7. 

Keyler finished with eight RBI for the game. 

“We had timely hits from Contreras, Cameron Henard, Aidan De los Santos, Brock Arellano and Cam Kelley in what I would term a historic win for Turlock American Little League…That was a 200-foot fence by the way, four home-runs, historic performance.”

Turlock was 7-1 after eight total All-Star games played, before Tuesday’s contest.

Turlock had a rematch with McKinleyville on Tuesday night. Results were not available by press time. Check back at turlockjournal.com for updates.

“I think they are happy, but not satisfied, the ultimate goal is to win the State tournament. They are excited, happy and a cohesive force. One of the things we have is a positive and strong attitude from the 13 boys. The support from the community and families has really helped too,” Keyler added.