Los Gatos American and Los Gatos National could manage just a win apiece in weeklong pool play, finishing the tournament with matching 1-3 records—both wins coming against the Branham Little League.

The top two finishers in each of the two brackets of pool play were to advance to the 9-year-old division playoffs on Monday with the winners to play for the championship on June 29. Almaden North, Almaden South, Lincoln Glen and Cambrian were the top finishers in pool play.

Robbie Chen and Kyle Kevorkian came to play for Los Gatos American on June 22 in all-star action.

LG American defeated Branham 5-4 for its only win in the tournament with Chen and Kevorkian each roping a double and scoring a run in the victory. Alec Johnson smashed two singles and scored a run. The other members of the LG American all-star team included Joey Bergandi, Matt Bergandi, Drew Marchbank, Robert Barry, Tyler Perkins, Matthew Raasch, Derek Dombrowski, David Shannon and Justin Shapiro.

Vincent Camarda ripped a hit and scored a run for Branham. Mark Cardinalli also smashed a triple and scored a run, but it wasn't enough for the win.

LG American team was unable to win any of its games later in the week, dropping one to Willow Glen 10-0 on June 24 and another to Lincoln Glen 14-3 on June 26.

Los Gatos National also ended the tournament with a 1-3 record, beating Branham 19-6 on June 26.

LG National dropped its first game to Willow Glen 15-7 on June 19 and its second to Cambrian 15-0 on June 21. National's third loss came against Lincoln Glen 10-0 on June 23.

The members of the LG National team were Alex Abiog, Thomas Greenley, John Braham, D.J. Halbert, Connor Bridgeman, Kevin Roesser, Kevin Crane, James Sena, Daniel DeFever, Kevin Shelton, Spencer Dove, Kevin Wilde and Zach Fox.

The Quito 9-year-old all-star team finished the tournament 1-3. After defeating Union 10-8 in its first game on June 19, Quito lost three straight to Saratoga 13-5 on June 22, to Almaden South 4-3 on June 25 and to Almaden North 10-5 on June 26.

Arjay Parhar was the only source of offense for Quito in its game with Saratoga. Quito was held to a single base hit off Parhar's bat, but they also held Saratoga to only one hit thanks to the combined efforts of Ryan Saul and Kevin Scott on the mound.

In Quito's game against Almaden South, Scott was not just a force on the mound, but at the plate as well. Scott ripped a triple and two singles, scored two runs and struck out two batters from his spot on the hill. He had help from teammates Ryan Hoerger and Dominique Zucca, who both had two base hits on the day, but could not bring down the Almaden team.

T.J. Conroy led his team at the plate against Almaden North with two singles. Scott was at it again at the plate, with a base knock and three runs scored. Zucca also ripped a hit for the Quito team.

Rounding out the Quito team were Eric Spence, Michael Dugan, Michael Lima, Peter White, Jacob Sisneros and Brad Frederick.

The Union all-star team ended the tournament 1-3 with its win coming against San Jose American 13-0 on June 18. Union's first loss came against Quito. Union dropped one to Almaden North 5-0 on June 24 despite a double by Nick Mella and lost to Saratoga 6-1 on June 26.

Sam Delaplane roped two doubles and Michael Leichtman scored the only run for Union against Saratoga. Despite the loss, Union pitcher Ryan McMahon had a fantastic day on the mound with 10 outs by way of strikes.

The other players on the Union team were Austin Hunt, Teva Brencher, Adrian Williams, Joey Billmaier, Steven Parleman, John VanBrunt, Chris Spear and Zack Janovich.

11-year-old all-stars

In other action, the District 12 11-year-old tournament got under way last weekend with a full slate of eight games at the Saratoga Little League's Congress Springs Park fields.

Pool play will continue through July 2 before the top two teams in each pool match up in two semi-final games on July 5 at 5:30 p.m. The winners will play for the championship on July 6 at 5:30 p.m. at Congress Springs.

Los Gatos American pitcher Kyer Vega worked his magic in an 8-0 win over Willow Glen, firing a complete game shutout while striking out seven. Vega's solid pitching performance was complemented by an outstanding hitting attack highlighted including three home runs. Gavin Honda blasted a two-run round tripper and added another solo shot. Bryan Houp ripped a two-run homer. Both Honda and Houp had three runs-batted-in on the day.

Los Gatos American put the game on ice by pushing across six runs in the fourth inning to take a 7-0 lead. Singles by Hayden Hibberd, Peter Danna, David Picone and Sutton Roley combined with the homers by Honda and Houp produced the fireworks. Keith Brassil and Nick Lamson added a single each and Vega connected on two singles to round out the 12-hit attack by Los Gatos.

Los Gatos American was not all about offense, though, coming up with two key double plays to deny Willow Glen from mounting any rallies. Shortstop Honda and second baseman Houp combined on one while first baseman Brassil worked with Honda for the other.

Quito showed up with its hitting pants on. Their hot bats pounded out 15 hits resulting in a 15-3 win over American. Pitcher and lead-off batter Kyle Peck was double trouble for American. He blasted four hits including a triple and a double, scored three runs, and fired four innings of quality pitching to stymie American batters. Richard Prigatano was also a tough out coming through with two singles and two doubles and scoring three runs.

Quito pushed across runs in every inning but the fifth with consistent hitting all through the lineup. Justin Leong and Thomas Marlen stroked two singles each. Brett Kentera, Brett Morales and Nick Streit each added a hit. Collin Takaki worked his way on three times with walks and scored twice. Steve Economy also scored a run.

In another South Pool contest, Los Gatos National battled Union to the wire before pulling out a 9-8 win. National built a 9-2 lead after four innings primarily with a six-run outburst in the second. Tyler Olivet led the way by blasting a three-run homer.

Nick LaBombarda was on the hill for Los Gatos National, hurling 4 1/3 innings and striking out seven to get credit for the win. He also had a single to drive in two runs.

In addition to his homer, Olivet added a single. Michael Murano ripped two hits, including a double that drove in two runs. Patrick Shultz, Tommy McCullough and Robbie Dunne each added a single to the Los Gatos attack.

The Union effort was led by Vinny Cannino, who ripped a home run in the first inning. Union fought back to score three runs in the fifth and three runs in the sixth to almost pull out the win.

On the day, Cannino, Jake Overstreet and Andrew Gold each had two hits, including a double by Gold.

Union also came up short against Cambrian, losing 14-4. Things looked promising when Rick Hastie led off the game with a homer but the bats were mostly quiet after that. Hastie rapped a single and Paul Eischens added two more singles. Nick Logsdon turned in a flawless game defensively at second base.

Bob Scudder contributed to this story.