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Sports

Danville All Stars Overpowered By Pleasanton Pitching

The 12-year-old Danville team fell to Pleasanton National in the district tournament

The Star: Pleasanton's starting pitcher James Cowick brought the heat against Danville's batters. Finishing with 11 strikeouts and only four hits in his five innings-pitched, Cowick held Danville to only three runs.

The Turning Point: Though Danville scored first, it was a short-lived lead as Pleasanton put four runs on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Three walks by Danville's starting pitcher Darroch Koel in addition to smart base running and key hits gave Pleasanton enough of an edge to take control of the game.

The Quote: "They were pitching a great game," said Danville coach Mark Dawson. "We came in with the mentality that we needed to get hits at the plate, and we got a few but not enough."

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What's next? With its win, Pleasanton moves on to face Tassajara Valley on Wednesday in a game that will decide who advances to the District 57 All Star Tournament Finals. Danville drops to the tournament’s elimination bracket and will play Tuesday.

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A nightmare bottom of the first inning spelled the demise for the 12-year-old Danville all stars, as the team suffered a 6-3 loss to Pleasanton National in the District 57 All Star Tournament on Thursday.

Though Danville scored first, taking a 1-0 lead after the first half inning, things quickly unravelled.

Danville’s starting pitcher Darroch Koel threw 49 pitches in the first inning alone, giving up three hits and three walks and allowing Pleasanton to take a 4-1 lead.

“Darroch (Koel) has an amazing ability to get the ball over the plate,” said Danville coach Mark Dawson. “He throws incredibly hard pitches, but he was missing his spots today.”

Koel recovered with a hitless second inning, but the damage was already done.

After reaching his pitch limit, Koel was replaced by Conner Redmond in the third. Despite giving up a two-run single to Bradley Norton, Redmond shut down the next eight consecutive batters.

But the change was too late to help Danville overcome Pleasanton’s lead. Though Pleasanton’s offense was not as productive as in its 13-0 win over Livermore on Sunday, the team’s first-inning runs provided enough of an advantage to get the win.

It was a different story for Pleasanton's starting pitcher James Cowick, who threw 11 strikeouts and only one walk in five innings, quieting a Danville offense that scored 17 runs in its last outing.

“Cowick is a great pitcher,” said Pleasanton coach Todd Norton. “He keeps his head, he throws hard pitches, and he places the ball well.”

Danville managed four hits off of Cowick but the team found it difficult to get any kind of offensive rhythm as batter after batter struck out.

"They were pitching a great game," said Dawson. "We came in with the mentality that we needed to get hits at the plate, and we got a few but not enough."

The match-up between Danville and Pleasanton was long anticipated. In last year’s district tournament, Danville beat Pleasanton 4-0 and went on to be crowned the NorCal Champions for the second consecutive time. But this time it is Pleasanton that has cause to celebrate.

Despite the loss, Danville is by no means out of the running for the district title, and still has hopes of earning a third consecutive state championship.

"We're going to go into the Fourth of July planning on winning the next five games in a row," said Dawson.

That is what it will take for Danville to fight through the elimination bracket and steal another District 57 title, and Dawson is confident his players can do it.

The team's next match will be Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. against either Granada or Dublin.

Pleasanton moves on in the winner's bracket, facing Tassajara Valley, a team that has scored more than 10 runs in both of its last two games, on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

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Pleasanton National 6, Danville 3

Danville          1 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 5 1

Pleasanton National   4 0 2 0 0 X - 6 5 1

Danville (ab-r-h) Venezia 3-2-1, Koel 3-0-0, Redmond 3-0-1, Neswick 3-0-1, Bowman 3-1-0, Dawson 3-0-0, Ludwig 2-0-1, Lonestar 1-0-0, Banks 3-0-1, Batza 1-0-0, Bartnick 2-0-0; Totals 27-3-5.

Pleasanton National (ab-r-h) Norton 3-1-2, Cowick 3-1-0, Albanese 3-0-1, Chinn 3-1-0, Howell 3-0-0, Godi 3-0-0, Ibanez 2-0-0, Cassetti 2-0-1, Moroney 2-0-0, Zerio 1-0-0, Myers 1-2-0, Torquemada 1-1-1; Totals 27-6-5.

Pitching

Danville: Koel 2,1/3 IP, 6 R, 5 ER, 4 H, 4 K, 5 BB. 1 HBP; Redmond 2,2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 6 K, 0 BB.

Pleasanton National: Cowick 5 IP, 3 R, 2 ER, 4 H, 11 K, 1 BB, 2 HBP; Norton 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 K, 0 BB.

Batting

2B - Neswick (D)

RBI – Neswick (D), 2 Norton (PN), Albanese (PN), Cassetti (PN)

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