Sports
Little League All Stars: Albany Juniors Win District 4 Crown
Albany's 11-3 victory against Concord American clinched the team's spot in the sectional tournament.
Albany 11, Concord American 3
Records: Albany (4-0), Concord American (4-2)
The Star: Parker Denison pitched five solid innings and gave up two hits, holding the lead for the Albany Junior All-Stars until it exploded for nine runs over the last two innings.
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The Turning Point: Albany's two-out rally in the sixth inning clinched the District 4 championship. Concord American's Brandon Oswald gave up back-to-back walks after retiring the first two batters, and then gave up three straight doubles to the heart of the Albany order.
The Quote: "(Denison) was at his best and he's the horse of our staff. He did a great job," Albany manager Chris McLean said.
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What's Next? Albany will play District 64 in the first round of the Section 1 tournament at 2 p.m., on Saturday at Casa Grande High in Petaluma.
The Bottom Line: By defeating Concord American, Albany doesn't have to play a second game to decide the District 4 championship.
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The Albany Junior All Stars didn't want to play another game to prove they were the District 4 champions.
And they won't have to.
Albany would have had to lose twice to lose the title, but pulled away late in the first championship game, clinching the title with an 11-3 win at the North Oakland Little League fields Wednesday.
"All tournament we've been getting stronger as the game goes on. It's just another great example," manager Chris McLean said. "We don't give up. We've got a really balanced team with a lot of really good fielders and hitters."
After taking a 2-0 lead after the first, Albany didn't score again until the fifth. Starting pitcher Parker Denison helped his own cause by hitting a deep drive to center, which hopped over the fence for a ground-rule double to score Alex Rowland and Calvin Bernard. Albany scored two more runs to build a 7-2 lead after five innings, and packed on five more runs in the sixth to seal the win.
Denison kept Albany in the game early by striking out six, giving up two hits and walking just two batters, but said he could do better.
"I've given up less walks before," Denison said. "A couple of innings I struggled, but I felt good."
He added that his fundamentals helped him hit a pair of doubles at the plate.
Concord American manager Wayne Horvot said his team just got out-hit.
"(Albany) started getting the bat on the ball," Horvot said. "They're just a better hitting team than us today. They over-exceeded my expectations since I took this team on. I'm very proud of their effort today."
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Albany 11, Concord American 3
Concord American 000 101 1 — 3 4 0
Albany 200 045 x — 11 12 1
Concord American — Nottizger 3-0-0, Bates 2-2-0, Dodenhoff 3-1-1, Oswald 2-0-1, Chen 1-0-0, Koenig 1-0-0, Burton 1-0-0, Rosas 3-1-2, Rosado 1-0-0, Lockhart 1-0-0, Biglew 1-0-0, Gem 1-0-0. Totals 20-3-4.
Albany — Dhaliwald 3-2-2, Thomas-McLean 3-2-1, Rowland 3-2-1, Bernard 3-2-2, Rasmussen 1-0-1, Denison 2-2-2, Mino 1-0-0, Jacobs 4-1-2, Calloway 3-0-1, Lebowitz 4-0-0, Johnson 1-0-0, Dempster 1-0-0. Totals 29-11-12.
Pitching
Concord American — Bates 4 1/3 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB; Oswald 2 2/3 IP, 7 R, 7 ER, 8 H, 0 K, 3 BB.
Albany — Denison 5 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 6 K, 2 BB; Jacobs 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 0 K, 1 BB; Dempster 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB.
Hitting
2B — Denison 2, Jacobs, Bernard, (Albany).
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To get to the championship, Albany won a pair of games in the winners' bracket of the District 4 Tournament.
As submitted by an Albany representative
Albany Little League - Juniors (13-14 year olds) All Stars -
Team:
Chris McLean (coach)
Stephen DeGange (coach)
Players:
Carl Jacobs, Matthew Mino, Calvin Bernard, Daniel Dempster, Jack Johnson, Shan Dhaliwal, Collin Calloway, Gideon Lebowitz, Parker Denison, Alex Rowland, Reed Thomas-McLean, Kai Rasmussen
July 2 — Albany 6, South Oakland 5 — 8 innings
Alex Rowland scored Shan Dhaliwal with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 8th to complete an exciting 6-5 comeback victory for Albany. Rowland's clutch double in the bottom of the 6th tied the score at 5. Parker Denison pitched 6 strong innings and Calvin Bernard was flawless in 2 innings of relief to pick up the victory. Albany made several stellar defensive plays, none bigger than Gideon Lebowitz's run-saving diving catch in left which resulted in an inning-ending double play.
July 5 — Albany 4, Concord American 3
In another thriller, Carl Jacobs' bases loaded grounder scored Reed Thomas-McLean as the winning run in the bottom of the 7th inning. Jack Johnson snared a fly ball and fired a strike from right field to Calvin Bernard to nail a runner at home to preserve the tie in the top of the inning. Jacobs held down Concord American for four innings before giving way to Collin Calloway who was outstanding in relief, yielding no runs in 3 innings for the victory. Calloway and Alex Rowland had two hits each.
To submit results from your youth team, e-mail sports editor Kyle Bonagura at kyle.bonagura@patch.com