The Cupertino Courier
Sports
Cupertino American second in sectionals
By MIKE BARNHART
Although they were playing short-handed at the Section 5 Senior All-Star Tournament, the Cupertino American all-stars were playing with plenty of heart.
Despite the absence of some of their best players, the District 44 champions placed second at the Section 5 tourney July 15-18 at the Milpitas Sports Complex. After splitting a pair of games with Almaden of District 12, CA's team of 15- and 16-year-olds dropped a 4-0 decision to Milpitas of District 59 in the title contest.
"They were all hard-fought games," manager Chris Sullivan said. "One of our best players (Alex Guthrie) was on vacation for the whole tournament and a couple of other key guys missed the first game, but the team never quit and several guys stepped up and played well."
In the opener, Almaden jumped in front with a three-run second and never trailed during the 9-6 victory. Although CA countered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, Almaden added three more in the third and two in the fourth for what proved to be an insurmountable 8-2 lead.
Cupertino did close the gap to 8-5 on RBI singles by Zach Chastain, Fred Sherburne and Stephen Craft in the last of the fourth, but could not come all the way back. Chastain and Andy Meunier paced CA's nine-hit offense in the opener with two hits apiece. Daniel Byars and Ajay Arora added run-scoring hits.
The two teams met again two nights later, following Almaden's tough extra-inning loss to host Milpitas. Paced by Greg Wallis and Guirae Jang, players that were out of town during the teams' first meeting, Cupertino American was able to turn the tables on Almaden and eliminate the District 12 champion, 4-3.
Wallis pitched the distance, limiting the Almaden all-stars to five hits and holding them scoreless in five of seven innings. Jang and Alex Motzny each had two of CA's six hits. One of Jang's hits knocked in a run during the last of the fourth, when his team went ahead 3-2. Ben Englander and Kevin Reuter also had RBIs in the rally.
After an Almaden sacrifice fly tied the game in the top of the fifth, CA went ahead to stay in the bottom half when Wallis scored on Chastain's single.
A pair of unearned runs had put Almaden ahead in the second, and Englander's outfield assist from right field to home plate kept the CA deficit at 2-0.
The Cupertino squad entered its game with Milpitas knowing it had to win twice to move on to the Northern California Division II tournament. However, the District 59 champions tallied solo runs in each of the first three innings en route to a 4-0 win and the Section 5 crown.
During the first five innings, Milpitas pitcher Aaron Chavez allowed just a single to Reuter and faced the minimum 15 batters. However, after Milpitas added an insurance run in the sixth, Cupertino rallied in its last two at-bats.
Singles by Elliot Rosales and Motzny and a walk earned by Craft filled the bases in the sixth for CA, before Milpitas escaped without giving up a run. CA loaded the bags again in the seventh, but again could not score. Quinn Sullivan was hit by a pitch, Jang followed with a single, and Rosales reached on an error, but Milpitas turned a double-play to survive the threat and end CA's post-season run.
Cupertino American reached the sectional by winning the District 44 championship with a 3-0 record.
Big League second
After putting together a 12-7 record this summer against teams from San Jose, Milpitas and Fremont, the District 44 Big League team (ages 16-18) placed second in the Section 5 Tournament.
The squad featured high school players from Lynbrook, Cupertino and Bellarmine, and a player from San José City College.
Team members were Adam Khan, Tony Perez, Dan Doughty, Aaron Teagle, Mike Reid, Jonathan Huizar, Michael Domen, Amuro Yamamuro, Will Guthrie, NaRyan Dongre, Jeff Weiss, Brian Snyder, Adam Reid and Yas Sakario.
Serra LL honors
While older boys and girls were representing Serra Little League against other leagues in District 44 all-star events, several younger players were taking a swing at being all-stars.
Players from the minor and farm divisions were selected as all-stars for friendship tournaments with other leagues or for local Serra events, according to league president Kevin Fitzpatrick. The recognized players were:
9-year-old--Andrew Caturegli, Garrett Crawford, Preston Heen, Tom Holm, William Palmer, Lane Robinette, Nathan Rodriquez, Jay Slaney, Daniel Takahshi, Brian Willems and Edric Wong.
8-and-under--Donovan Aguilar, Kieran Bradford, Michael Bullard, Mitch Douglas, Zachary Fitzpatrick, Robert Fruin, Nicholas Hargis, Derek Item, Varoon Kalandoor, Kyle Markley, Daniel Marquez, Christian Martinez and Grant Skidmore.
Minors North--Jeffrey Banks, Austin Browning, Nathan Rodriguez, Nick Rossi, Sharad Shankar, Justin Shayesteh, Collin Spence, Drew Strotman, Clara Takahashi, Danny Takahashi, Sam Wilhelm and Ron Yehoshua.
Minors South--Ori Belson, Justin Cena, Paige Crowley, Henry Hanrahan, William Major, Ryan Ozawa, Trevor Price, Aditya Raju, Lane Robinette, Derek Rositas, Jay Slaney, Brian Willems and Edric Wong.
Farm East--Sahil Gandhi, Nir Ovadia, Nathaniel Beak, Michael Belloni, Bailey Mendel, Billy Richards, Nevada Shanahan, Ian Pearman, Ty Clark, Michael Downey, David Lin, Tommy Orvick and Koa Sato.
Farm West--Luke Hartlage, Braden Wong, Adam Fasbender, Jehan Keval, Brooks Diwu, Alex Lopez, David Misroch, Stephen Schmitz, Anidrudh Shankar, Jack Bullard, Allen Iwamoto, Timothy Iwamoto and Arnav Malawade.
