Crescenta Valley 9-10 Baseball All-Stars slug way to championship game
MONTROSE — Through the first two games of the Little League District 16 All-Star Tournament, the members of the Crescenta Valley 9-10 baseball team have proven to be aggressive with the bats.
Crescenta Valley provided another demonstration Thursday, when it met Foothill for the right to advance to the championship game.
Crescenta Valley finished with 17 hits, including a two-run home run from Andrew Miller in the first inning, to roll to a 13-2 victory. The game was called after four innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
Crescenta Valley will meet Foothill or Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans-Tujunga in the title contest at 10 a.m. Saturday at Tujunga Little League Fields. Foothill will meet Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans/Tujunga in an elimination game at 5 p.m. Friday at Montrose.
“We have a lot of hitters who have seen good pitching throughout the season,” said Crescenta Valley Manager John Risso, who saw Holden Deitch finish with a team-high three hits. “They’ve gotten a good education on how to look for good pitches to hit.
“It’s always good when you can have a group of hitters who are smart and patient. They find it and they get it going.”
Crescenta Valley, which began the tournament Wednesday with a 5-4 win against Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans/Tujunga at Tujunga, scored three runs in the first inning Thursday.
A run-scoring single by Deitch made it 1-0 before Miller lined a two-run home run to center field to make it 3-0.
“I just saw a perfect pitch to hit,” said Miller, who finished with three runs batted in and came on in relief in the fourth to strike out the side. “You just have to go up there and stay focused.”
Foothill, which started the tournament with a 13-1 win against Burbank on Wednesday at Tujunga, cut the deficit to 3-1 in the first on a run-scoring single by Justin Melville.
Crescent Valley scored five runs in the second to take n 8-1 lead. Miller drove in a run with a single to make it 4-1. Later in the inning, Otto Cohen drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the advantage to 6-1 before Angus Zoeller capped the inning with a two-run single.
Dallas Bugarin drove in a run with a groundout in the second to pull Foothill to within 8-2 in the second.
Luca Terenzi, Sean Sommer and Devon Li each drove in a run in the third to give Crescenta Valley an 11-2 lead. Crescenta Valley received a two-run single to right by Jake Rendo to complete the scoring.
Crescenta Valley received two hits apiece from Andy Saryan, Joseph Risso and Zoeller.
“Now we have to come out in a similar fashion Saturday against a good team,” John Risso said. “We have to capitalize on our strengths and continue to play sold defense.”
Foothill Manager Arceo Ramos said Foothill couldn’t climb out of the early hole.
“Crescenta Valley is always a tough team in the division,” said Ramos, who got two hits from Melville. “We knew coming in that it would be a real tough battle and we fell behind early.
“We’ll look to bounce back. We’ll have to pitch better and we’ll need to clean up a few things on defense.”
A winner-take-all championship game would be held Sunday at a time and location to be announced.
