Little League All Stars: San Ramon Junior 90s Smash Way to Victory

The Star: Of San Ramon's 14 hits, only one went for extra bases, so San Ramon did a good job of putting the ball where the defense wasn't. No one was better at doing so than Dean Heinz. The first basemen had three hits, drove in four runs and scored twice. He also performed on the mound, throwing a 1-2-3 second inning.

The Turning Point: With two outs in the first, San Ramon had two runners in scoring position and looked ready to take the lead. Heinz gave San Ramon that lead with a clutch seeing-eye single past the diving shortstop. The hit gave San Ramon a 2-0 lead — a lead it wouldn't relinquish.    

The Quote: "The biggest thing to come from this win was confidence," coach Bill Ross said. "Everyone contributed at the plate and we had five different pitchers throw. It was great to get this win."

What's next? San Ramon will meet Niles-Centerville Little League Monday at 5:30 p.m., at Vallejo Mills Elementary School in Fremont. It will be another elimination game for San Ramon as it will continue to work its way through the losers' bracket.

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San Ramon averaged just under nine runs in its four games prior to Saturday's 5-4 extra inning loss to Half Moon Bay.

So needless to say, the boys from San Ramon were ready to wake up their bats in Sunday's game against Tracy.

San Ramon pounded out 20 runs off to stave off elimination in the Section 3 tournament.

The run parade for San Ramon started in the first with a two-out, two-RBI single by Dean Heinz.

The bats truly exploded for San Ramon in the second inning as San Ramon plated 11. Everyone in the San Ramon lineup scored at least once in the 40-minute second inning, with Alex Van Iderstine and Kyle Martine each scoring twice.

San Ramon capitalized off five walks four errors by the Tracy team en route to the big inning.

Even though the game was all but done after the second, San Ramon added six runs to its total in the fourth the team batted around again. Camden Reynolds, Kenny Gath and Heinz pounded out three-straight RBI singles to cap off the inning. 

"We saw more pitches and got deeper in counts today," coach Bill Ross said. "The more at-bats each player gets, the more comfortable they get at the plate. The more comfortable they are, the more confident they are as well."

In order for a team to make it through the losers' bracket, it needs to be deep on pitchers and use their arms wisely. San Ramon was very conservative with its' pitchers Sunday, as it threw five different players in the five innings. All but one San Ramon pitcher is eligible to throw for Monday's game against Niles-Centerville.

"Our rotation is in great shape after using five different pitchers today," Ross said. "We're definitely set pitching wise for the next few days."

Ross said the keys to keeping the San Ramon pitching staff in good shape lies both with the pitchers themselves and the coaching staff.

"As long as the coaching staff and I use the pitchers smartly and the pitchers throw strikes, we should be good," he said.

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San Ramon LL 20, Tracy LL 6

San Ramon 211 061 x — 20 14 0  

Tracy 100 23x x — 6 6 4 

San Ramon — Ross 0-2-1, Halpin 0-0-3, Reynolds 4-4-4, Gath 3-5-2, Heinz 3-5-2, Veatch 1-2-1, Martin 1-3-2, Van Iderstine 0-2-2, Merchant 1-2-2, Di Dio 1-4-1, Everhart 0-1-1

Tracy (h-ab-r) — Oki 0-3-0, Singh 0-3-0, Kirby 1-2-2, Blackwell 2-3-1, Messier 0-1-0, Hensen 1-1-2, Thomassen 0-1-0, Deebee 1-1-0, Rodriguez 1-2-1, Bishop 0-1-0, Burt 0-0-0, Kouzma 0-2-0, Hewitt 0-1-0

Pitching

San Ramon — Halpin 1 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 0 BB; Heinz 1 IP 0 R, 0 H, 0 K, 0 BB; Martin 2 IP 2 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 2 BB, 1 HP; Reynolds 1/3 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 H,  1 K, 2 BB, 1 HP; Veatch 2/3 IP. 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB

Tracy — Kirby 1+ IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 K, 5 BB; Blackwell +IP, 10 R, 6 ER, 5 H, 0 K, 3 BB, 1 HP; Rodriguez 2+IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 H, 2 K, 3 BB; Oki 2 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 2 K, 0 BB, 1 HP

Hitting

2B — Reynolds (San Ramon), Hensen (Tracy); 3B Blackwell (Tracy)