The Madera American Little League 8-12-year-old All-Star team continued its run through the postseason tournaments with a victory in the Section 7 Tournament to head to the NorCal State Tournament in Chico this weekend.
The Madera American All-Stars opened the Section 7 tournament with a solid 6-2 victory over Corcoran on Thursday to send them into the semifinals on Saturday.
However, Madera American stumbled Saturday against Corcoran, and didn’t look like the team that had been dominating the past two tournaments. They were no-hit by Corcoran. On top of that, they committed three errors that led to extra runs, and walked five batters in a 12-1 loss.
“That was brutal,” Madera American manager Steve Gallegos said. “They jumped on us, and once they jumped on us, they didn’t let go. It put us in a bad spot that we weren’t used to. We kind of went into shock, and it went downhill from there.”
However, in the finale of the, essentially, best of three battle, Madera American got a solid pitching performance from David Olivas to put away Corcoran, 13-3, to win the Section 7 title.
“David threw three innings last time, and they didn’t touch him,” Gallegos said. “We’re going to ride that horse. He had their number.
“I agitated our kids to get them ready for this game. I just tried to motivate that team. After losing Saturday, that made us really want it. We went to the field and just worked.”
In Madera American’s five tournament wins, they have outscored their opponents, 52-7.
Next for Madera American is the NorCal State Tournament on Saturday in Chico. They are one tournament win away from the West Regionals.
Madera American 13, Corcoran 3
Unlike the day before, Madera American scored first, and often, to secure the Section 7 title.
Madera American put the game away with a six-run fourth inning for the 13-3 win.
“Once we get up, we stomp on you,” Gallegos said. “We’ll eat your team alive.”
Olivas was the key, limiting Corcoran to just two hits and an unearned run over 4 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and walked three.
He got support from his offense. Eli Vela and Jayden Morales hit home runs, and Madera American banged out 13 hits. Five different players had a multi-hit game.
“After Saturday’s loss, we went and grinded,” Gallegos said. “We came out early and just hit, hit, hit, and it carried over tonight; I didn’t care who they put on that hill, we were going to hit him today. They could put anyone in, put the coach in, we’ll hit him too.”
Madera American got on the scoreboard with a two-out, nobody on rally in the top of the first inning.
Olivas started the rally with a single up the middle. Two pitches later, Vela deposited a 1-0 pitch over the left-centerfield fence for a two-run home run.
Corcoran battled back in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of a couple of Madera American mistakes.
An error put the lead-off runner on. A single and another error loaded the bases with nobody out.
Gallegos made a visit to the mound to settle down his team.
“That was the biggest turning point of the game,” he said. “We called time out to settle David down. I told him we needed a strikeout or a cheap ground ball to limit the damage. David executed to perfection.”
Olivas struck out the next batter and a sacrifice fly drove in Corcoran’s first run. Then, Olivas got a fly out to center to retire the side and limit the damage.
“I think that was the biggest turning point in the game,” Gallegos said. “David was pumped up getting out of that mess.”
Madera American used that momentum into the top of the second inning. With one out, Morales drew a walk. Michael Granado singled to put two on. Antonio Guerrero loaded the bases with a single to right.
After a strikeout, Omar Prudente watched the first pitch go by him to the backstop. Morales raced in to score on the wild pitch. The throw from the catcher was missed by the pitcher, and Granado scored from second base for a 4-1 lead.
Corcoran put a threat on the bases in the second. Two strikeouts, two hit batters and a single loaded the bases. Olivas got out of the inning with his fourth strikeout of the night.
After a scoreless third, Madera American put the game out of reach in the fourth. Olivas was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. After a strikeout, Omar Molina and Rick Avila singled.
On a 0-2 pitch, Morales got a pitch up in the zone over the plate, and deposited the ball over the advertising signs in left-center field for a three-run home run to break open the game.
Madera American wasn’t done. Granado started another rally with a single to center. After Granado advanced to second on a wild pitch, Guerrero hit a ground-rule double over the left-center field fence to drive in Granado.
Guerrero advanced to third on a wild pitch. Jeremiah Marmolejo drew a walk. Madera American executed a first-and-third steal that scored Guerrero with Marmolejo getting tagged out to give Madera American a 10-1 lead.
After the second, Olivas allowed three baserunners, all walks, into the fifth inning. He recorded a strikeout on his 87th pitch of the game to reach his pitch limit.
Andrew Andrade struck out the next batter to end the fifth.
Madera American tacked on three more runs in the sixth. With one out, Olivas singled to left. Vela singled to left and Molina singled to center to drive in Olivas.
The ball went under the center fielder’s glove, and Vela scored from first, and Olivas raced into third. Avila grounded out to drive in Molina for a 13-1 lead.
Andrade allowed a walk and three straight singles to open the sixth. Corcoran scored two runs to gain some momentum.
However, Madera American got the momentum back when second baseman Vela snagged a line drive heading to first. He kept running to double up the runner at first.
Andrade settled down and ended the game with a strikeout to send Madera American to Chico.
Corcoran 12, Madera American 1
Madera American fell into the same holes teams they beat fell into in a chance to win the Section 7 championship on Saturday.
Corcoran stymied the Madera American bats. The left-handed pitcher allowed an unearned run with seven strikeouts and three walks.
Vela struggled on the mound. He allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts.
Corcoran banged out 10 hits in the win, and took advantage of three errors.
Corcoran scored two runs in the second inning on two hits and an error. They added another run on a hit batter, single and a pair of wild pitches.
Madera American had a chance to get in the game, but left two on in the first and a runner in scoring position in the second.
Michael Granado drew a one out walk in the third. He went to second on a wild pitch, and to third on an error. He scored on another error on a misplay on the throw to second to cut the lead to 3-1.
Corcoran put the game out of reach with nine runs in the fourth. Madera American used three pitchers in the inning. Corcoran had six hits, including a three-run triple that put the end to the game.
Madera American 6, Corcoran 2
Madera American scored all six of its runs in the first inning and held off Corcoran the rest of the way for a 6-2 victory Thursday.
Vela picked up the win with two hits and a run in two innings of work. He struck out five and walked a batter. Olivas tossed three innings in relief, and struck out nine batters. Amari Glynn closed out the game with two hits and a strike out.
Corcoran out hit Madera American, 5-4, but the damage was done in the first.
After the first inning, Madera American didn’t have a hit. They drew six walks, but didn’t threaten.
Glynn led off the game with a double to left field. After a strikeout, Avila singled to right to put runners at second and third after a throw to the plate.
Andrade singled to right to drive in Glynn. Olivas reached on an error to drive in Avila. Vela reached on another error to drive in Andrade.
After Prudente was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Molina singled to left to drive in Olivas and Vela. Molina was tagged out trying to advance to second.
Guerrero was hit by a pitch to put runners at the corners. Madera American executed a first-and-third steal to perfection with Prudente scoring and Guerrero taking second for a 6-0 lead.
Madera American had a chance to add to the lead in the fifth with walks to Prudente, Molina and Granado to load the bases, but a strike out ended the inning.
Corcoran scored a run in the second on a double and a single, but Vela struck out the side to limit the damage.
In the sixth, Corcoran got a lead-off walk and a pair of singles to cut the lead to four. However, Corcoran hit a grounder to second. Second baseman Avila raced to second, and threw to first for a game-ending double play.