Little League All Stars: Danville 11s Move to NorCal Title Game With 11-4 Win

Danville 11, Scotts Valley 4

The Star: Darroch Koel was 2 for 4 at the plate and threw 3 1/3 innings of one-hit ball to help Danville reach the NorCal Divisional championship game.

The Turning Point: Danville broke a scoreless tie with seven runs in the fourth to take control.

The Quote: "Our coach always says to take it one game at a time and I think we did that all year," Nick Venezia said. "It's been a lot of fun."

What's next? Danville hosts the winner of Thursday's game between Scotts Valley and Tri-City on Friday at 5:30 p.m., at Osage Park in the NorCal championship. Follow live updates from the game from Patch on Twitter.

Bottom Line: Danville has to lose twice in order not to repeat as Northern California champions. If it were to lose Friday, a winner-take-all game will follow on Saturday.

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In its first trip through the lineup in Wednesday's game against Scotts Valley in the winners' bracket of the Northern California Divisional tournament, the Danville Little League 11-year-old All Stars struggled at the plate.

But as it has shown several times over the past few years, the team was able to adjust. Danville scored seven runs in the fourth inning to bust open the game and cruised to an 11-4 win.

"Our boys do a very, very good job at making adjustments," manager Mark Dawson said. "There was a big difference our second time through the lineup."

The win secures a chance for Danville to repeat as Northern California champions on Friday at 5:30 p.m., at Osage Park in Danville. It will play the winner of Thursday's game between Tri-City and Scotts Valley and would have to lose twice not to claim the NorCal title.

Darroch Koel threw three and one-third innings of one-hit ball and will be eligible to pitch again on Saturday if Danville were to drop its' game on Friday.

Ryan Bowman got things started in the seven-run fourth with a lead-off single. Jared Dawson (1 for 3) followed with a walk and Koel (2 for 4) drove in Bowman for the game's first run. Jack Morgan (1 for 4) followed with an RBI-double and Nolan Bartnick (1 for 1) also doubled in the big inning.

"We kind of knew what he had the second time through," said Nick Venezia, who finished the game 2 for 4 with two runs. "It was a great win."

Scotts Valley got three runs back in its half of the fourth, but Danville upped its advantage back to seven runs with two more in the fifth thanks to a single from Koel, a triple from Connor Redmond and an RBI bunt by Bartnick.

Even though Danville won the NorCal title last year as 10s, Venezia said they've stayed focused this year.

"Our coach always says to take it one game at a time and I think we did that all year," he said. "It's been a lot of fun."

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Danville 11, Scotts Valley 4

Danville 000 722 — 11 11 1
Scotts Valley 000 310 — 4 3 2

Danville (ab-r-h) — Venezia 4-2-2, Bowman 3-1-1, Dawson 3-1-1, Koel 4-2-2, Morgan 4-1-1, Redmond 4-1-1, Lonestar 1-0-0, Bartnick 1-1-1, Batza 2-0-0, Facteau 1-1-1, Banks 1-1-1, de Flores 1-0-0.

Scotts Valley (ab-r-h) — Ponos 2-2-1, Lane 3-0-0, Utic 2-0-0, Weiger 3-1-0, Riemer 2-1-1, Parsons 3-0-1, Rains 2-0-0, O'Brien 1-0-0, Rockow 1-0-0, Beraut 2-0-0, Christiansen 1-0-0.

Pitching

Danville: Koel 3.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K; Bowman 0.1 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 K; Dawson o.1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K; Redmond 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB.

Hitting

2B — Bartnick. 3B — Redmond.

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