12U Stars finish third at district tournament

All-in-all, head coach Ken Brock wants every player to learn something from the all-star experience.

“The biggest takeaway from this tournament is their mindset,” Brock said. “In baseball and in life, nobody is going to hand things to you. You have to go out and work for things and take what you want. At the end of the day, if you are playing in the last ballgame, it better feel like your tank is empty and it’s all on the field. I thought we had a little more left in the tank than what we put out there. You never want to walk off the field feeling like you could’ve given a little more.”

In Thursday’s semifinal contest versus Bend North, The Stars fell behind 3-0 through one inning and inched to within 4-2 in the top of the fourth with a runner at third base and two outs, but they could not solve Bend pitcher Oliver Richards in a 5-2 loss.

Richards retired the final seven TD batters he faced, six on strikeouts, and another one on a diving stab by left fielder Calyn Dickey.

Richards fanned 12 overall with no walks and gave up two runs, one earned, on four hits, three of those coming in TD’s two-run fourth, in his complete-game gem.

“We did not come out with the energy that we needed to compete with them,” TD’s James Porter said. “It was really frustrating. We just couldn’t hit the ball and we just couldn’t keep up with their pitcher.”

Riley Brock had two hits and a run scored, Henry Begay had a hit and a run scored, Cooper Klindt posted a hit and William Lee notched an RBI sacrifice fly.

Bend North scored five runs, four earned, with four hits and six walks and a hit batter on TD pitchers Brock and Begay.

That duo also combined for 11 strikeouts, six by Brock.

To march into the semifinals, The Dalles starting pitcher Nolan Donivan put the team on his back with a light’s out performance in Wednesday’s 7-1 win over Hood River.

The right-hander allowed one unearned run on one hit with a walk and 11 strikeouts, and he also chipped in a 1 for 3 effort offensively with a double, a walk and two runs scored.

Of the 18 outs Donivan recorded, four were infield groundouts, one a popup and he also got some help from Braden VanSickle, who made a diving catch of a looper in shallow right field for the first out in the bottom of the third frame.

Donivan retired the first seven batters he faced, before a one-out walk in the third. He then struck out the next two batters to end the inning.

He struck out the side in the fifth inning and capped his dominant display with a strikeout and two groundouts.

“I felt great. My curveball was working, and I was able to get a lot strikeouts from it,” Donivan said. “When you are pitching good and your defense is backing you up, you feel like nobody can beat you and you feel like you are on top of the world.”

All told, TD’s offense rattled off 12 hits, six of them doubles, as the team started the scoring with single runs in the first and second inning to jump ahead 2-0.

Hood River added an unearned run in the fourth, but TD padded its lead with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth.

On offense, Henry Begay was 3 for 4 with a double and two runs scored; Cooper Cummings chipped in a double, a walk and an RBI; and Riley Brock had a double and an RBI sacrifice fly.

Dylan Titus, Luciano Alvarado and William Lee tallied a hit and a run scored each, and Olsen Meanus, Sam Shaver and Cooper Klindt each posted a hit and an RBI.

In their tournament opener last Sunday, The Stars had a tough time getting any offense started, but finally came alive in the sixth frame, as Begay slugged a solo home run, and then four batters later, Luciano Alvarado hammered a grand slam home run over the left field fence to draw his team to within a 10-5 score.

That’s as close as they would come however, as Bend North got the final two outs on a groundout and a strikeout to secure a 10-5 victory.

“We need to come out with the attitude that we can beat any team we play,” Alvarado said. “We came out slow and did not play how we normally play.”

In the loser’s bracket after Sunday’s loss, the Stars kept their season alive with an unbelievable finish to their showdown with Bend South.

TD trailed by a 3-0 margin at one point, but stormed back from a 3-1 deficit with three runs on an infield hit, two walks, a hit batter and a combination of five wild pitches and passed balls in the top of the sixth frame.

With Porter at the plate, Riley Brock scored the tying run on a wild pitch, and later in Porter’s at-bat he struck out, but reached first safely on a passed ball, as Begay raced home safely for the lead and eventual winning run.

Staked to a 4-3 lead, Lee worked his way around a one-out walk with a flyout and a strikeout to end the game.

TD was held hitless through the first 4 1/3 innings until Sam Shaver ended the drought with a single to centerfield.

Bend South pitcher Sawyer Campbell pitched five-plus innings of three-hit ball (two infield singles) with three walks, a hit by pitch and 10 strikeouts to get the losing decision.

Lee, who came on in relief in the second inning, finished the final five innings and allowed two runs (on a fourth inning, two run homer), on four hits with a walk and 11 strikeouts.

“That was a crazy game,” Lee said. “We never quit. We all wanted to win this game and finally got some hits to beat them.”

Off that miracle comeback, TD’s pitching trio of Alvarado, Dylan Titus and VanSickle shut down Jefferson County in a three-hit, four-walk, 12-strikeout performance to help the 12U All-Stars secure a 7-0 victory in an elimination contest at Kramer Field.

Alvarado, the starter, lasted 2 2/3 innings and gave up one hit, walked three and struck out six to pick up the win.

Titus entered in the third and tossed 1 2/3 innings of relief with two hits allowed, one walk and three strikeouts.

VanSickle closed out this matchup and fanned three in 1 2/3 relief frames.

“When we have our pitchers throwing good, I think we get more confidence with our batting,” Alvarado said. “We came out like we wanted to win and that put us on top. It was a great job today from all of the pitchers.”

Offensively, TD rapped out 11 hits, six going for extra bases.

Lee had a double, a single and an RBI; Begay tallied a double, a single, two runs and an RBI; and Titus tripled, scored a run and drove in one.

Alvarado added a double, a run scored and an RBI, Riley Brock doubled and scored a run and the duo of Donivan and VanSickle notched a single and a run scored apiece.

Every player on the roster will turn their attention to a new level of baseball in the Babe Ruth division.

Coach Brock looks back on this little league journey with a sense of pride.

“It’s been an honor to be able to coach these kids,” coach Brock said. “I have coached a lot of them since they were nine-years-old. I will continue to coach them next year and follow them through and hopefully turn a good group over to the high school and see what they can do there. I have had great assistant coaches in Jimmy Shaver and Ben Donivan. They both do a phenomenal job with the kids and they are baseball guys too.

“When you have this many years of baseball coaching a good group of kids, great things happen. These young guys are sponges out there, soaking in that knowledge. Hopefully, you see it pay off as they grow and mature and start to put things together.”