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| Little League, big effort |
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| Written by Marc Aceves | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Wednesday, 02 July 2008 | |
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Patterson Little League All-Stars 11-and-older Andrew Basuldua Thomas Jack Trevor Troxler Fernando Chavez Travis Lockhart Jonathan Rodriguez Travis Trethaway Michael Licea Aaron Gonzales Vince Cuellar Mico Rivera Benjamin Arroyo Christopher Martel Manager: Brandon Jack Coaches: Gary Troxler, Jeff Gonzales and Brett Jack 11-and-under Jared Northstein Ernesto Hulzar Alex Delgado Edwin Dardon Roman Lopez John McCord Garrett Fowler Matthew Valverde Thomas Turner Ethan Schut Darrius Hunt Paul Maese Malik Lawson Manager: Tom Gavin Coaches: George Hulzar and Rich Clark MANTECA — For any Little League tournament player, July is baseball’s holy month.  Play at home: Patterson Little League All-Star catcher Vincent Garza makes the catch but fails to oust a Weston Ranch base runner at home during Saturday’s tournament. Photo by Elias Funez/Patterson Irrigator The ultimate destination is Williamsport, Pa., home of the Little League World Series for almost 60 years. It’s a reach for any team to get there.Only eight teams from the U.S. qualify, but there’s no law prohibiting a player from thinking his or her team might be good enough to make it. “This is the most fun I’ve had as a Little League ball player,” Patterson All-Star Trevor Troxler said. “Even if we lose all of our games, it will still be a blast just to be here and to represent the city.” The Patterson Little League All-Stars were ready Saturday and Sunday to kick off their inaugural postseason for both their 11-and-under team and their 11- and 12-year-old team at Northgate Park. 11-12s While it’s never easy to lose, the Patterson All-Stars proved that they know how to handle defeat with dignity. Following Saturday’s 12-0 defeat at the hands of host Northgate, Patterson’s 11-12s seemingly improved overnight, rebounding to make Sunday’s battle with Lathrop a closely contested 3-0 loss. “We came out with the intensity needed to show that we wanted to be here,” Patterson 11- and 12-year-old manager Brandon Jack said Sunday. “I told my players to quit looking at the scoreboard, and I encouraged them to come out and have fun.” Troxler pitched a solid 42/3 innings on Sunday, allowing only five hits and two runs. But Patterson never found its offense and fell in six innings. “(Troxler) gave us everything that he had,” Jack said. “The whole team improved leaps and bounds from the way they had played on Saturday.” Patterson’s game with Northgate was stopped early, thanks to a league-mandated “mercy rule.” The league halts any game in which a team trails by 10 or more runs after four innings of play. “We made a couple of errors that should have been routine plays, which gave Northgate more outs than they needed,” Jack said. “We played well for three innings, but the wheels just fell off.” “By the bottom of the fourth inning, the kids looked like someone had just taken their dog,” he added. Sunday was a different story. “We knew we needed to talk to each other more and use our fundamentals,” Troxler said. “We knew that we could bounce back. We’re not the type of team that is going to stop trying.” Even so, Patterson was overmatched by the competition both at the plate and on the mound. But the youngsters made the most of their opportunity. “I’m so proud of them just for staying in the game on Sunday and finishing it out,” Jack said. “We accomplished two of our main goals: We were able to play all six innings, and we remained competitive throughout. “We’re a brand-new league. We’re only going to get better.” 11-and-under Patterson’s 11-and-under team showed resilience Saturday, clashing with a tough Salida squad through the better part of the first three innings. The players’ inexperience eventually did them in, however, as a handful of costly errors allowed Salida to run away with a 13-1 win. “This is a group of kids that hasn’t had a whole lot of time to play together,” manager Tom Gavin said. “We’ve only had about a week to practice.” “Lots of good things came out of this game,” he added. “We found out who our leadoff hitter is. We found out who our middle-of-the-order hitters are. And, we found out who are pitchers are.” Patterson’s 11-and-under squad will play again Wednesday at Northgate Little League Field in Manteca. To reach Marc Aceves at the Irrigator, call 892-6187 or e-mail him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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