Youngest Twin Cities All-Stars Prevail Twice

The Twin Cities Little League 9-10 All-Stars received strong hitting and pitching from multiple sources en route to a pair of victories over the weekend in the opening games of the District 3 tournament.

Twin Cities began pool play against the always tough Mill Valley team, which jumped out to a quick four-run lead through two innings. However, a relief crew of Scott Matthews, Alex Aguero, Marco Castillo, Chance Farrell-Martin and Jacob Zimmerman would hold Mill Valley to only two more runs the rest of the way, leading to a 9-6 victory. 

While the bats struggled early, Twin Cities was able to scratch out a couple of runs in the third and fourth innings with hits by Kyle Johnson and Brennan Paganini. Josh Cohen, who had two hits, would then trigger a huge five-run fifth inning that broke the game open. The rally also included a deep double by Ryan Jessen.

On Sunday, Twin Cities would not waste a fine start by Castillo, who allowed just one run and struck out three in three strong innings, in a 5-4 win over Ross Valley. Aguero picked up the save with the tying run left stranded at second base.

Castillio also led the offense with three hits and score twice. Zimmerman and Justin Neustaetter each collected a hit and scored a run.

Here’s a capsule look at each of the Twin Cities All-Star teams:

11-12-Year-Old All-Stars

Roster: Peter Bonomi, Nick Calzaretta, Zach Cohen, Andrew Colletti, RJ Cutkelvin, Clayton Demski, Brannon Dwyer, Andy Ehrenberg, Rusty McDonough, Reese Osborn, John Ryan, Will Sweeney, Alex Wilson.

Results: Twin Cities 5, Ross Valley 4; Twin Cities 3, San Francisco National 2.

Remaining schedule: Tuesday vs. Tiburon at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.; Thursday at Novato North, 5:30 p.m.; July 5 at West Marin, 5:30 p.m.; July 7 vs. Novato South at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.

Note: Single-elimination quarterfinals begin July 9.

Highlights to date: Twin Cities won its first game in an extra-inning barn-burner against a tough Ross Valley team. In the bottom of the seventh inning and the score tied at 4 apiece, Brannon Dwyer hit a single. Peter Bonomi was due up. Manager Bill Ryan said, “Since Peter is one of our big hitters, he didn’t have much experience bunting. We had made the choice earlier if Brannon reached base we would have Rusty bunt in Peter’s place.” And that’s exactly what happened. Rusty McDonough layed down a perfect bunt.  With the third baseman charging, Brannon made a heads-up decision to race to an unprotected third base.  Alex Wilson calmly stepped up to the plate and smashed a ball down the right field line for the walk-off win.

Clayton Demski had a two-run homer earlier in the game.

A day later against San Francisco National, coach Jay Sternberg knew this game would be very difficult.  Jay said before the game started, “Zach Cohen is one of our best players. We are certainly disappointed Zach has to miss this game, but we understand family is very important. We stress family first to our players. We know he will be back Tuesday ready to go." Missing Zach was not the only problem facing Twin Cities. San Francisco National’s starting pitcher, Zach Avila, is one of the best in the district. With the score 1-0 in favor of San Francisco, the top of the sixth inning was Twin Cities’ last chance.  Andy Ehrenberg drew a one out walk and San Francisco decided to bring in a relief pitcher with Demski coming to the plate. He roped a double down the left field line to set the table for Nick Calzaretta.  With runners on second and third, Calzaretta proceeded to hit a three-run homer over the right-center wall.

Manager Bill Ryan's comments: “These two games have been torture. Fortunately we have been on the right side of both of them. We never let up. We teach the players that no matter what happens, we can always come back. Obviously we would prefer to score more runs, but that will come. All-Star pitching is very good, and we just have to stay patient."

Junior Division All-Stars

Roster: Tyler Peck, Sarah Ihnken, Robby Warfel, Addison Brady, Nate Flax, Joe Matthews, Max Margulies, Michael Albinson, Patrick Quinn, Parker Bartlett, Mason Dean, Peter Nicosia, Dom Orsi.

Results: Dixie-Terra Linda 9, Twin Cities 5.

Remaining schedule: Monday at West Marin, 5:30 p.m.; Wednesday vs. Mill Valley at Moody Field, 5:30 p.m.; July 5 at San Francisco, 5:30 p.m.

Note: Single-elimination semifinals begin July 9.

10-11-Year-Old All-Stars

Roster: Henry Gardner, Nick Gardner, Thomas Geloso, Nicky Granovsky, Brady Kallas, Stephen Lightfoot, Cooper McLay, Buddy Myers, Sonny Myers, Jason Silberman, Teddy Snyder, Ben Syufy, Cale Tippett, Jack Wirth.

Results: Tiburon 13, Twin Cities 0; Twin Cities 3, San Francisco American 2; Twin Cities vs. San Francisco National, score unavailable.

Remaining schedule: Wednesday vs. Novato South at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.; July 5 vs. Novato American at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.; July 6 vs. Dixie-Terra Linda at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.

Note: Single-elimination quarterfinals begin July 9.

Highlights to date: Twin Cities prevailed 3-2 over a tough San Francisco American team as Brady Kallas paved the way for the victory by throwing a complete game and keeping the hard-hitting San Francisco batters off-balance all night. Twin Cities turned several double plays in the game, including a lineout snared by first baseman Ben Syufy, who beat the runner back to the bag for the unassisted twin-killing, stopping a San Francisco rally. Also, Henry Gardner gunned down a San Francisco runner trying to steal after Kallas fanned the batter for another double play.

Coach Steve Lightfoot’s thoughts: "(The win over San Francisco American) was a great team victory. Everyone contributed in the field and at the plate." 

9-10-Year-Old All-Stars

Roster: Alex Aguerro, Marco Castillo, Josh Cohen, Ryan Jensen, Kyle Johnson, Joe Lewis, Chance Martin, Scott Matthews, Justin Neustaetter, Brennan Paganini, Danny Ryan, Dean Watson, Jacob Zimmerman.

Results: Twin Cities 9, Mill Valley 6; Twin Cities 5, Ross Valley 4.

Remaining schedule: Tuesday at San Rafael, 5:30 p.m.; Thursday vs. San Francisco American at Joe Wagner Field, 5:30 p.m.; July 6 at West Marin, 5:30 p.m.; July 7 at Novato North, 5:30 p.m.

Note: Single-elimination quarterfinals begin July 9.

Coach Victor Castillo’s thoughts: "(The triumph over West Marin) was a good win in a tough game. We're playing a lot of games in a short stretch, and I'm proud of these boys."