Season that saw multiple tragedies ends in triumph for Rincon Vallley Little Leaguers

Rincon Valley Little League's under-10 baseball team ended a challenging season, which included the shooting death of their longtime coach, with a state championship last week.|

After a season filled with unimaginable heartbreak, the Rincon Valley Little League 10Us brought home a championship, winning 11 straight games to claim the league’s first state title.

It was a season that started with a pall over the entire community, as a quarter of the league’s 400 families lost their homes in the October fires. The same flames claimed $100,000 of their equipment.

Then last month, longtime coach Tim Gillaspie was shot to death while trying to protect his family and friends from a man armed with guns and bombs who was targeting his own family.

Last week, after a remarkable undefeated run through district All-Stars, sectionals and then the Northern California state tournament, the team defeated powerhouse Sunnyvale, 7-4, in the championship game Thursday in Palo Alto.

Other local teams, including from Petaluma and the Sonoma Valley, fell just short in their championship drives.

“It’s kind of just sinking in,” said manager Todd Buonaccorsi. “The whole community has gone through a lot, with the fires then with Tim. I kept a Mets hat in the dugout for him. We were both Mets fans. Every time it was close, I’d grab onto that hat and we’d get through it.”

Though the team went 11-0 in its post season, it wasn’t a cakewalk. They had to come back more than once, sometimes from huge deficits.

Through three tournaments, Rincon Valley outscored its opponents 98-36, though all the state-level games were close.

“In the end, I think this group of kids is especially talented and found ways to win where other kids or teams would have given up. That’s part of the beauty of being 10 also, the kids just keep playing baseball regardless of the situation and let their talent rise to the occasion,” Buonaccorsi said.

“We had walk-offs, we had blowouts, we had great pitching, a variety, you name it we had it,” said coach Jeff Chavez. “It was great. I call Todd the wizard because he’s a tactician and always making strategic moves.”

Strangely, the title game was probably the least dramatic of all, the coaches agreed.

It was the second meeting for Rincon Valley and Sunnyvale, but Chavez knew they wouldn’t go down easily.

“It definitely was the best game we played,” Buonaccorsi said. “We went ahead and held the lead. I always felt we were in control.”

Rincon Valley went up 1-0 in the first inning and starting pitcher Jack Mountanos led the team into the fifth.

The teams traded runs until Rincon Valley put it away in the fifth inning to lead 7-4 and close the door.

“This game wasn’t as climactic as others,” Chavez said. “The others were scrappy, scrappy, scrappy.”

The title brings a welcome relief to the tight-knit baseball community, who banded together after the fires to rebuild the league’s equipment stash and give the kids – and adults – something to focus on besides the sadness and loss brought on by the fires.

Gillaspie’s memory was with them the entire time, Chavez said.

“There were a lot of emotions,” he said. “We held his hat up. We made sure (his family) were part of this.

“And we swept it. That to me is amazing.”

Buonaccorsi said he went into the postseason hoping to win District and maybe a game or two in Sections.

“This run winning the NorCal state title, going undefeated, is something special these kids will never forget,” he said. “It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and an emotional roller-coaster, but completely worth it.”

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