Little League All Stars: San Ramon 12s Two Wins from Section Title

San Ramon 13, San Lorenzo National 0

The Star: Matt Ramirez was 3 for 3 with a pair of home runs and six RBIs in the 13-0 win for San Ramon. Tommy Jew pitched three scoreless innings and also homered.

The Turning Point: Ramirez's two-run double in the first gave San Ramon all it would need and set the tone as San Ramon faced a pair of hard-throwing San Lorenzo National pitchers. 

The Quote: "It seems like whenever I don't try to hit a home run, I do," said Ramirez, who also hit two homers in the District 57 opener against Canyon Creek. "Coach (Holden) asked us to score in double digits today and we told him we would."

What's next? San Ramon plays Tracy National in the winners' bracket championship Monday at 5:30 p.m., at Gomes Elementary School in Fremont. To get live scoring updates from the game follow Patch Sports East Bay on Twitter.

Bottom Line: San Ramon was able to save some pitching with a four-inning, mercy-rule win, but the road doesn't get any easier against a Tracy National team which won its previous game 11-0. The San Ramon 12-year-old team from 2009 won the Section 3 title before being eliminated in the Northern California championship game. 

———————————

Take one look at the 13-0 final score and it'd be easy to assume the San Ramon Little League 12-year-old All Star team had an easy an opponent in its Section 3 winners' bracket semifinal on Sunday.

That wasn't the case. San Lorenzo National's first two pitchers thew heat.

It turns out sometimes good hitting does beat good pitching.

"I didn't expect anything like this," San Ramon manager Dave Jew said. "I was thinking more like 4-2, 5-3, something like that."

San Ramon's impressive offensive output was in line what Matt Ramirez had in mind, though.

"Coach (Holden) asked us to score in double digits today and we told him we would," Ramirez said. "I knew we could do it."

Ramirez certainly did his part starting the scoring with a two-run double in the first and adding a pair of two-run homers in his following two at-bats.

"It seems like whenever I don't try to hit a home run, I do," said Ramirez, who is excited by the team's amazing start to the summer. "It's been pretty fun. We're a good team with good team chemistry." 

After Ramirez gave San Ramon a two-run lead in the first, San Ramon took advantage of five walks in the second and used timely hits from Devin Rocha and Ramirez to build a 9-0 lead. 

Tommy Jew added his third homer in two days in the fourth before Ramirez hit his second homer of the game. Rocha, Rocky Moore, Nick Gilfillon and Grant Mendoza all recorded hits in the four-run third.

Jew went three innings on the mound — his first three of all-star play — to pick up the win.

With San Ramon leading by more than 10 runs, the game ended after San Lorenzo went scoreless in the top of the fourth.

San Ramon has shown power throughout its lineup during its six-game winning streak, but Jew said there is potential for even more.

"It comes in bundels," Jew said. "(Ramirez and Tommy Jew) aren't the guys we expect to provide the power, hopefully it comes (from other players too)."

A win against Tracy National on Monday would put San Ramon in the 12-year-old Section 3 championship for the second-straight year. A loss means the team would have to win a losers' bracket game then beat Tracy twice to advance to the Divisional tournament, which pits all of Northern California's section champions together for the right to play at the West Regionals in San Bernardino — the last stop before the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.

———————————

San Ramon 13, San Lorenzo National 0

San Lorenzo 000 0 — 0 2 3

San Ramon 274 x — 13 10 0

Visitor (ab-r-h) — Norton 1-0-0, Medina 1-0-0, Odalaigit 2-0-0, Lim 2-0-0, Sandoval 1-0-0, Medina 2-0-2, Abeta 1-0-0, Rena 2-0-0, Contleo 1-0-0.

Home (ab-r-h) — Jew 2-3-2, Pangelinan 2-0-0, Ackerman 3-2-0, Rocha 3-1-2, Ramirez 3-2-3, Moore 3-2-1, Gilfillon 2-0-1, Bagnall 0-0-0, Gerlach 0-1-1, Mendoza 1-0-1, Holden 1-1-0, Catson 1-0-0.

Pitching

Visitor: Norton 0.1 IP, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K; Odalaigit 1.1 IP 7 R, 6 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 1 K; Sandoval 1.1 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 1 K.

Home: Jew 3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB; Gilfillon 0.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 K; Catson 0.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K .

Hitting
2B — Ramirez, Mendoza,  HR — Ramirez 2, Jew.

———————————

Follow Patch Sports East Bay on Twitter

Like San Ramon Patch on Facebook