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Battling Sonoma Babe Ruth Baseball all-star 15s, 14s fall just short of Nor-Cal State finals

 

Both the Babe Ruth Baseball District 2 champion Sonoma Valley 15- and 14-year-old all-star teams put together uplifting journeys through the competitive NorCal State double-elimination tournaments and battled their way to within reach of the tourney finals.

Unfortunately, the Sonoma all-star 15s and 14s ended their run at NorCal State titles with elimination losses in the semi- and quarterfinals, respectively.

Playing at Bartholomew Sports Park in Elk Grove, Sonoma’s 15-year-old all-stars opened the NorCal State championships with a 5-2 victory over Woodland, were defeated 19-4 by Vallejo, then posted impressive 10-6 (Monday) and 5-4 (eight-innings Tuesday) wins over Washington Manor and Palo Alto, respectively.

In Wednesday’s rematch semifinal showdown against a strong Vallejo team, the Sonoma all-star 15s fell short of the NorCal State title game with a 17-7 loss.

Comprising Sonoma’s 2011 District-2-champion 15-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team – directed by manager Joe Lunny and coaches Mario Alioto and Justin Garrett – were Vincent Albano, Andrew DeMartini, Jimmy Flatt, Miles Hagin, Cole Harper, Mitch Hood, Cordell Kenniston, Donnie Krause, John Murphy, Richard Nunez, Damian Sanchez, Max Schimm, Mike Stovall Garrett Walker and Robby Woodworth.

 

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At Clark Field in Woodland, Sonoma’s 14-year-old all-stars defeated Eel River 11-0 in their NorCal State tourney opener, before first being nipped 7-6 by Sacramento, and then outlasting Palo Alto for a 16-11 win in a game that started Monday, was called after exceeding the time limit in the eighth, and ended in 11 innings on Wednesday.

With only a short break, the Sonoma all-star 14s faced a good Antioch team in Wednesday evening’s NorCal State quarterfinal and dropped a 7-3 decision.

Comprising the 2011 Sonoma District-2-champion 14-year-old Babe Ruth all-star team – directed by manager Manny Alcantar and coaches Dean Bonfigli and Bennie Soto – were Jose Barios, Brett Bonfigli, Cole Cavalli, Ronnie Cotter, Magnus Forsythe, Devon Graff, Graham Herder, Shane Lounibos, Brendan Natuzzi, Zachary Parr, Lauren Simpson-Gomez, Jesse Summers, Zach Thompson, CJ Vitale and Ryan Wilbanks.