The A's, who needed last-inning rallies to win their first two games and rode Patrick Crowley's fine pitching effort in a dramatic semi-final triumph, erupted in the District 44 finale. They whitewashed the Red Sox of Santa Clara Homestead 11-1 in a game called after five innings.

"It was a great season," said A's manager Jeff Osorio. "The kids were spectacular all year. It was a total team effort."

The TOC title capped an amazing run by the A's, which finished the season with a record of 23-2. After going 15-1 in the regular season against the five other Serra major squads, the A's narrowly escaped the Serra LL post-season tournament with a 4-1 record. Finally they won four straight in the 14-team district TOC.

James Osorio's two-run triple and Graham Gagne's two-run double were the biggest hits for the Serra A's as they scored eight times during the third and fourth innings. The A's led 10-1 after four. A's pitcher Paul Kamradt struck out 14 batters.

To reach the TOC championship game, the A's edged Sunnyvale Metro's Dodgers 8-7, Moreland's Indians 3-2 and Tri-Cities 3-1. The Homestead champs earned the right to vie for the district crown by beating the champions of Mountain View, Sunnyvale Southern and Briarwood-El Camino.

"We needed great execution in the sixth inning to beat Metro," Osorio recalled. The A's were tied 7-7 going into the bottom of the sixth in the TOC opener.

With two outs and two strikes, pinch-hitter Will Edmonds singled home Gordon Deacon with the winning run. Deacon had led off the last of the sixth with a single. He moved to second on Josh Glincher's sacrifice bunt and reached third on Akash Jagannathan's ground out.

Back-to-back home runs by Crowley and Kamradt in the fourth inning had given the A's a 7-3 lead, but the Metro Dodgers tied the game with four runs in the fifth. Mikey Havan's two-run double highlighted the Metro rally.

Crowley, who pitched five innings for the A's, led his team with three hits and two RBIs. Kamradt had two hits, including a two-run double that helped the A's take a 4-0 lead in the first. Sam Zingale of the A's and Ben Genoff of the Dodgers also had two hits. Osorio sparked the defense from his catcher position by twice throwing out runners attempting to steal a base.

More sixth-inning heroics were necessary for the A's to pull off a win against Moreland. Trailing 2-0 with one out in the last of the sixth and Osorio and Crowley on base, Kamradt crushed a three-run home run to end the game.

"It must've gone 245 feet," Osorio said of Kamradt's blast.

Kamradt went the distance for the A's, striking out six batters. Kamradt allowed just four hits and did not walk a batter.

Crowley was the A's mound star in a semi-final pitching duel against James Roberts of Tri-Cities. After giving up a run in the top of the first, Crowley blanked the host team the rest of the way. He scattered four hits, while striking out three and walking two. It was the first time all season Crowley pitched six innings.

"He has a lot of heart," Osorio, the manager, said of Crowley. "He was really tired, but told me, 'Coach, I am going to stay in and finish what I started.' "

First baseman Craig Taubman made several good plays in the game to support Crowley, including a rally-killing snare of a line drive after Tri-Cities had loaded the bases in the fifth.

Meanwhile, the A's rallied in the fourth inning to go ahead 2-1. Edmonds' bunt single and a single by Zingale were the key hits. The A's added an insurance run in the fifth, capitalizing on an error and two wild pitches.

As great as a season as the A's had, they almost didn't get out of the league tournament. They dumped the Giants 15-3 in the opener, but were stunned 4-3 by the Cardinals and dropped into the losers' bracket of the double-elimination tourney.

Beginning with their next game, against the Rockies, the A's were looking the season's end squarely in the eye. A late rally against the Rockies was needed to win 7-6. The A's then avenged their loss to the Cardinals with successive 22-3 and 7-0 wins to gain a berth in the TOC.

"We played great defense all season," Osorio said. "I challenged the players by saying if they had a shutout or a game with no errors, they could have a Jamba Juice or a milkshake.

"We were buying Jamba Juice left and right!"

The A's recorded five shutouts during the season, according to Osorio, and held league opponents scoreless in 98 of 126 innings.

Other players who contributed to the A's success were Brandon Erickson and Erik Plata-Roman. Manager Osorio was assisted by coaches Scott Deacon, Jeff Kamradt and Erik Taubman.

C-N champs fall

The Cupertino National champion Cardinals dropped an exciting game, 8-7, to Moreland in a first-round match-up.

Nick Tong's first-inning home run gave the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. Connor Rey Criddle's two-run double in the third increased the margin to 4-1, but Moreland rallied and led 7-5 after five innings.

Tong's second home run of the game tied the game 7-7 in the sixth, but Moreland scored the game-winner in the last of the sixth.

Leo Matsuda-Erickson, Kranti Peddada, Christian Fatoohi and Tong were the team leaders for the Cardinals, who had to win their league's post-season tourney in order to reach the TOC.