Little League All Stars: San Ramon 12s One Win Closer to Section Title

The Star: Rickey Henderson had 293 home runs as a leadoff hitter — San Ramon's Tommy Jew had two today. On the fourth pitch of the game, Jew launched a leadoff homer into deep into left field. Jew added another home run in the third to give San Ramon a two-run lead it would not relinquish.

The Turning Point: Jew's leadoff home run gave San Ramon the momentum it needed to take the opening round game. The homer also gave San Ramon a lead it would not lose.

The Quote: "It's always good to be in the winners' bracket," manager Dave Jew said. "Hillsbourough is a good team and its huge for us to come through in this one."

What's next? San Ramon will move onto the semifinals of the Section 3 tournament, facing San Lorenzo LL Sunday at 2 pm at Gomes Elementary School in Fremont.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

San Ramon Little League hadn't played a game in nine days. The layoff turned out to be good for it.

San Ramon LL topped Hillsbourough 4-2 in an opening round game at the Section 3 12-year-old All-Star Tournament.

The game couldn't have started off better for San Ramon as leadoff hitter Tommy Jew launched a home run on the fourth pitch of the game.

Another Jew home run and a Devin Rocha RBI double gave San Ramon a 3-0 lead it wouldn't lose.

Hillsbourough put a run on the board in the third on a Timmy Lynch RBI triple.

San Ramon and Hillsbourough traded runs in the fourth and San Ramon held on for the 4-2 victory.

San Ramon got great pitching from Rocha, Grant Mendoza and Jake Ackerman en route to the win. The trio combined for six strikeouts and seven hits.

The San Ramon defense was spot on from the start including a couple outstanding plays by Mike Pangelinan.

Coach Dave Jew said the key to the win was San Ramon's pitching.

"Our pitching kept them off balance all game," he said. "Hillsbourough is a strong team and our pitching only held them to two runs."

With the win, San Ramon is now three wins from the Section 3 title. Jew feels the key to winning down the road is scoring more runs.

"We got to score a lot of runs to win," Jew said. "As long as we play good defense and win every inning, we can win any game we play."

Despite his clean-up hitter-esque performance on top of the line today, Tommy Jew is going to stay in the same spot, according to Dave Jew.

Dave Jew feels that playing through the District 57 tournament, including beating Danville twice, prepared the team for anyone at sectionals.

"Danville and Pleasanton American were great teams," he said. "Hillsbourough wasn't a walk-away win either. I believe we'll see them again later this tournament."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

San Ramon LL 5, Hillsbourough LL 4

San Ramon 102100 — 4 9 0  

Hillsbourough 001100 — 2 7 0 

San Ramon (h-ab-r) — Jew 3-4-2, Pangelinan 1-2-1, Ackerman 1-4-0, Rocha 1-3-0, Ramirez 1-3-0, Gilfillan 0-2-0, Bagnell 0-1-0, Moore 0-2-0, Gerlach 0-2-0, Mendoza 0-1-0, Holden 0-1-0, Catson 1-1-1

Hillsbourough — Klein 1-3-0, Delegans 1-4-1, Lynch 1-2-0, Marcus 1-2-0, Waldsmith 0-2-0, Janscek 0-0-0, Sinclair 1-2-0, Krook 0-2-0, Pratt 0-1-0, Hall 1-2-1, Snow 0-1-0, Tan 0-1-0, Lietz 0-1-0

Pitching

San Ramon — Rocha 2+ IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 5 K, 3 BB; Mendoza 1 1/3 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 K, 1 BB, 1 HP; Ackerman 2 2/3 IP, 0 R, o ER, 1 H, 1 K, 1 BB 

Half Moon Bay — Marcus 4 2/3 IP, 4 R, 4 Er, 8 H, 8 K, 2 BB; Jancsek 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 K, 1 BB; Waldsmith 1/3 IP. O R, o ER, o H, 1 K, 0 BB 

Hitting

2B — Rocha (San Ramon), Sinclair (Hillsbourough); 3B — Lynch (Hillsbourough); HR Jew  (San Ramon), 1^st, none on;   3^rd, none on