INDIAN HILLS - There will be no trip to Disneyland for the Sonora Sasquatch after winning the 15-and-under United States Amateur Baseball Association World Series championship, but they'd be more than happy to settle for the next best thing.
"I'm going to take the trophy and team picture to City Hall and see if they'll put them up," coach Rich Stuart said after the Sasquatch wrapped up their title with a 10-4 victory against the Nevada Warriors Friday night at James Lee Park. "It's real neat for a small community like ours - we've got about 4,200 people in the whole town (of Sonora, Calif.) - so we're pretty excited."
Nick DeAngelis pitched a complete game six-hitter and helped his own cause by hitting 2-for-3 as the Sasquatch capped off a week in which they won six of seven games during the five-team USABA tournament. Tournament MVP Ryles Richards hit 2-for-4, including a two-run double in the third inning when Sonora took a 4-2 lead. Marshall Garcia also went 2-for-4, Mason Stoltenberg 2-for-3 and Ryan Williston 1-for-4 with a two-run double during a game-breaking five-run fifth inning rally. Spencer Stobaugh, the tournament's Offensive MVP, hit 5-for-5 and Williston 4-for-5 to help Sonora advance to the finals with a 16-7 win over the Nor Cal Knights on Thursday night.
"Without looking at the book, I'd say we hit .400 as a team here," Stuart said. "The whole tournament, the other team would score two runs on us and then we'd come back and score two or three of our own. These kids, they just don't quit."
The Sasquatch also showed they could play some defense as they turned three double plays in the final.
The first came in a key situation after they had taken a 4-2 lead in the third inning. The Las Vegas-based Warriors had runners on second and third with one out in the bottom half of the inning when Aaron Turner caught a fly ball in right field. Turner's throw back to the infield was cut off by Richards, who relayed a strike to Stobaugh at the plate to complete the inning-ending double play.
Sonora ended the game in the seventh when Williston, Garcia and Richards collaborated on a 6-4-3 double play. Garcia, a varsity starter as a freshman this spring at Bret Harte High (Angels Camp, Calif.), was also the middle man on a 5-4-3 twin-killing in the sixth.
"Those two can turn it with anybody," Stuart said of the shortstop-second base combo of Williston and Garcia.
Trevor Kirk hit 2-for-3 for the Warriors, a team comprised primarily of players from the traditionally strong Silverado High School program in Las Vegas (with one from neighboring Foothill High). Kirk was named as the tournament's runner-up MVP recipient.
Jeff Young, who will be a junior at Whittell High School this coming year, of the Nor Cal Knights was named the MVP Pitcher. Young posted a 1-1 record, his one loss coming earlier on Friday by a 3-2 score against the Warriors, a game in which he allowed six hits and two walks over seven innings and struck out 10 batters.
The Warriors took advantage of two errors by the Knights to tie the score at 2-2 with two runs in the fifth inning. Then in the bottom of the seventh, a two-out error opened the door for Kolton Villa's game-winning single.
Brian Peat hit 2-for-4 to lead the Knights and Young went 1-for-3 with a double in the top of the seventh. Justin Rainville and Jordan Keegan combined to pitch four-hit ball for the Warriors.
Tournament notes ... The Knights won their first five games and finished third with a 5-2 record with a roster that included Douglas High's Nate Whalin, as well as Young and Peat from Whittell. ... Sgt. Jimmy Hollinger of the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Carson City threw out the first ball during on Wednesday night.
