Little League All Stars: Danville 11s Edge Tassajara National to Advance to District 57 Championship

The Star: Conner Redmond was 1 for 2 at the plate with a clutch RBI single and pitched an inning and two-thirds of perfect relief to pick up the save.

The Turning Point: Redman's bases-loaded single in the fourth inning gave Danville the only run it would need.

The Quote: "That's why they are the defending NorCal champs," Tassajara Valley National coach Jorge Garratt said.

What's next? Danville will play the winner of Tuesday's game between Tassajara and Canyon Creek on Wednesday at Athan Downs at 5:30 p.m.

Bottom Line: In its run to the 10-year-old Northern California championship last year, Danville was undefeated through district and sectional play before dropping a game at the divisional tournament and finishing with a 13-1 record. Tassajara Valley made it clear a repeat performance wouldn't be quite so easy, but Danville was able to break through for a pair of runs in the fourth to advance to the finals.

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Expectations for the Danville Little League 11-year-old all star team are high —and for good reason.

As 10-year-olds, the squad ran undefeated through the District 57 and Section 3 tournaments before capturing the Northern California championship.

In the winners' bracket championship on Monday at Athan Downs in San Ramon, Danville passed its first tough test of the year with a 2-0 win against Tassajara National.

"Some of the best teams in the state are playing in the Tri-Valley," Danville coach Mark Dawson said. "We know there are going to be tough games to get out of District."

Tassajara National starter Will Blackburn had Danville looking pedestrian in the early going, retiring the first 11 batters he faced. Jared Dawson broke up Blackburn's perfect-game bid with a 2-out single in the fourth, which was the first of five-straight hits for Danville.

Conner Redmond's bases-loaded single scored Dawson to give Danville the only run it would need, but Nolan Bartnick followed with another run-scoring single to give the defending champions an extra cushion.

"(Blackburn) pitched well, but the second time through the order we our guys started to figure him out," Dawson said. "Jared had the single to get it going and then things picked up from there."

Tassajara's Nathan Landman hit a double in the top-half of the first and used a delayed steal to get to third with one out, but Danville starting pitcher Darroch Koel settled down to get a strike out and a groundout to end what turned out to be Tassajara's best scoring chance of the game.

The last two times the teams met — a pair of Danville wins — the 10-run rule came into play, but Tassajara made it a lot closer this time around

"I think the gap between them and us is starting to get smaller," Tassajara coach Jorge Garratt said. "They are a very good team and deserved to win."

Tassajara will play Canyon Creek — a team it beat 10-3 earlier in the tournament — Tuesday at Athan Downs at 5:30 p.m., in the losers' bracket championship. The winner will play Danville at 5:30 p.m., on Wednesday, also at Athan Downs.

Danville's pitchers — Koel, Nick Venezia and Redmond — combined to allow just two hits and one hit by pitch and were backed by a defense that made just one error.

Blackburn went four innings and threw 49 pitches for Tassajara, which means he'd be able to pitch again in the District 57 tournament only if the team beats Canyon Creek and takes a potential rematch with Danville.

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Danville 2, Tassajara National 0

TV National 000 000 - 0 2 0
Danville 000 20x - 2 6 1

TVNLL (ab-r-h) — Cinoric 1-0-0, White 2-0-1, Landman 2-0-1, Fryer 3-0-0, Maloon 3-0-0, Krommeahoer 2-0-0, Garratt 1-0-0, Hubbard 2-0-0, Blackburn 2-0-0 McFarlane 1-0-0, Olson 1-0-0.

Danville (ab-r-h) — Venezia 3-0-0, Bowman 2-0-0, Dawson 2-1-1, Koel 2-1-1, Morgan 2-0-1, Lonestar 2-0-1, Redman 2-0-1, Bartnick 1-0-1, Batza 1-0-0, Facteau 1-0-0, Banks 1-0-0, de Flores 1-0-0. 

Pitching

Visitor: Blackburn 4 IP, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 K; Maloon 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 1 K.

Home: Koel 2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K; Venezia 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K; Redman 1.2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 3 K.

Hitting
2B — Landman (TVN). RBI — Bartnick (D), Lonestar (D).