Pitching trio propels Crescenta Valley to title over Foothill
MONTROSE — The Crescenta Valley 9-10 Little League All-Star team has the luxury of having a talented and deep stable of pitchers.
“We really go six deep with our pitchers, and they all can throw,” CV Manager Kevin Deitch said.
It is that crop of pitchers that has led the way for the squad in the District 16 Tournament.
It was three of those hurlers that came through Monday in a championship game against Foothill at Montrose Park. The trio combined for a no-hitter, striking out 11 in the process, as Crescenta Valley rolled to an 8-0 victory to claim the title.
The victory earned Crescenta Valley a spot in the regionals. The team will take on the District 40 champion in an opening-tournament game at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Sunset Little League in Woodland Hills.
“They just have a loaded team and they have those six pitchers, so that makes them pretty tough to beat,” Foothill Manager Mike Magro said about CV. “They work hard and they play well as a team. It’s just hard to beat a team that has pitchers who throw hard like that.”
After beating Foothill, 8-4, to open the tournament, the Crescenta Valley pitching has been lights out during the course of the remainder of the tournament. Along with Monday’s shutout, the team also powered its way to a 19-1 victory and an 18-0 win in the event.
Luca Cuneo started on the hill for Crescenta Valley, going two innings, striking out five and walking two. He was relieved in the third by Noah Maddox, who went 2 2/3 innings and notched five strikeouts. Diego Robles finished things up for Crescenta Valley, picking up one strikeout.
Foothill batters were caught looking eight times.
“It’s nice to have the amount of quality pitchers that we do have,” Deitch said. “Sometimes when we might not hit the ball as well as I think that we should it seems like our pitching is there to do the job for us.”
“They did a great job at hitting their spots tonight and they threw great. The defense also did a good job behind them.”
Crescenta Valley would tally the only run they would need in the first inning when it pushed two across. Rowan Respicio led off the game by reaching base on an error. He was able to score on a throwing error. Cueno (two for three with a double and two runs scored) then singled and came around to score on a wild pitch.
Foothill starting pitcher RJ DeLeon did a solid job, striking out five and allowing nine hits in five innings.
The score remained 2-0 until the fifth, when Crescenta Valley collected five hits and scored four runs. A run-scoring double by Devon Medina (two for four with two doubles), and doubles by Cueno and Ben Elster (two for three) highlighted the inning.
Crescenta Valley added two runs in the sixth.
“The bottom of the order came through for us today,” Deitch said. “That was nice to see.”
Foothill threatened in the first and fifth innings, advancing runners to third in both frames. However, the Crescenta Valley pitchers extinguished both threats and kept Foothill off the scoreboard.”
