Sports
Babe Ruth: Tri-Valley 13s One Win Away From Clinching NorCal Championship
TV pulls away to 4-1 victory in extra innings.
Tri-Valley 4, East Sacramento 1 (9 innings)
Records: Tri-Valley (3-0), East Sacramento. (2-1)
The Star: There wasn't just one star on Tri-Valley. Tyler Lonestar reached base five times, none more important than in extra innings when he blasted a double to deep center for the go-ahead run. Starter Justin Hooper pitched a two-hit gem over seven innings to keep East Sacramento off the board.
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The Turning Point: After eight innings of scoreless baseball, Tri-Valley took advantage of an East Sacramento error in the ninth to score the first runs of the game after leaving 11 runners on base in prior innings.
The Quote: "We just got to tell the kids to keep battling. We had some successes and some failures but that's baseball, take it one pitch at a time. We just kept coming and we finally got a rally, we're really just a hitting team," Tri-Valley manager Ken Franco said.
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Who's Next? Tri-Valley will play the winner of the East Sacramento/Mountain View matchup in the championship game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Should Tri-Valley lose that game, the two teams will play one more game.
The Bottom Line: With just one more win, Tri-Valley will advance to Arizona and Regionals.
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A seven-inning pitching duel between the Tri-Valley 13-year-old Babe Ruth All Stars and East Sacramento spilled into extra innings, where it all unraveled for East Sacramento in the ninth.
Tyler Lonestar blasted a double to the wall in deep center to score the go-ahead runs, Jacob Kinney hit a single to drive in the game-winning runs and Sam Cabral doubled to drive in the final run for Tri-Valley, which advanced to the Northern California championship game with a 4-1 win Tuesday.
"We just got to tell the kids to keep battling," said Tri-Valley Manager Ken Franco. "We had some successes and some failures but that's baseball, take it one pitch at a time. We just kept coming and we finally got a rally, we're really just a hitting team."
Tri-Valley appeared to be the better team for most of the game, but couldn't score any runs through seven innings, leaving 11 runners on base compared to just three for East Sacramento.
East Sacramento was stymied by the stellar pitching of Tri-Valley starter Justin Hooper, who pitched seven innings of two hit-ball, striking out nine without allowing a walk.
"He's a stud. He will play at the next level. He's an athlete," Franco said of his ace.
East Sacramento didn't get a runner past second until the ninth inning, mostly a result of Hooper's stifling array of pitches.
"I just threw as hard as I could and just stayed in the game," Hooper said. "My defense helped me out a lot. If I struck out I didn't worry about, I just focused on my pitching."
Hooper got his team through the first seven innings and Lonestar started the rally that he said changed the momentum and got his team the win.
"I was just excited going up there. When I hit it, I said thank god because that was a nice hit," Lonestar said.
East Sacramento had a short-lived, two-out rally in its half of the ninth. After Zach Balantac singled and Nigel Robinson walked, Danny Lamantia singled to drive in Balantac, but Ben Knusden struck out swinging to end the game.
Despite the loss, manager Chris Knudsen knew his team had played well.
"They've been a tough team the whole tournament," he said. "Nine innings with those guys, we're proud of our boys. Nothing to be ashamed of with that loss."
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Tri-Valley 4, East Sacramento 1
Tri-Valley 000 000 004 — 4 8 2
East Sacramento 000 000 001 — 1 4 2
Tri-Valley — Kravitz 3-1-1, Lonestar 2-1-2 Delillo 3-1-0, Kinney 5-1-2, Snyder 5-0-1, Cabral 4-0-1, Henley 1-0-0, Miller 4-0-1, Haworth 1-0-0, Domingo 1-0-0, Hooper 4-0-0. Totals 32-4-8.
East Sacramento — Brown 4-0-0, Griffth 3-0-0, Balantac 4-1-3, Robinson 3-0-0, Lamantia 4-0-1, Knudsen 4-0-0, Romanatto 2-0-0, Lewis 2-0-0, Gustafson 2-0-0. Totals 28-1-4.
Pitching
Tri-Valley — Hooper 7 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 9 K, 0 BB; Domingo 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 K, 1 BB.
East Sacramento — Balantac 7 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 H, 4 K, 3 BB; Griffith 2 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 K, 1 BB.
Hitting
2B — Lonestar (Tri-Valley).
