Little League All Stars: Danville 12s Advance to District 57 Championship

The Star: Danville's Ryan Murphy, who went 3 for 3 with a two-run home run, had three RBIs, scored twice and reached base five times.

The Turning Point: A four-run second inning with two outs that gave Danville a 6-4 lead, a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Quote: "Basically, I told the kids if they want to win district, they have to beat every team," Danville coach Brent Hughes said.

What's next? A rematch against San Ramon Wednesday at Osage Park at 5:30 p.m.

Bottom Line: Danville had too much firepower and got good enough pitching to pull out a key victory.

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Trying to win the District 57 11-12 year-old All-Star tournament from the losers' bracket is a tough thing to do. But if there's a team that can do it, it's defending section champion Danville Little League.

Danville scored early and often in a 14-7 win over Pleasanton American at Osage Park in Danville Tuesday evening.

With the win, Danville earns a rematch against a San Ramon team it suffered a 6-3 loss to on June 30.

The game will be at Osage Park Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. Danville will have to beat San Ramon twice to win the district because San Ramon has been a perfect 3-0 thus far.

Still, Danville has set itself up quite well in the pitching department. Only two pitchers won't be available  — Riley Moore and Tuesday's starter Ryan Murphy.

"I basically told the kids if they want to win district, they have to beat every team," Danville coach Brent Hughes said.

Danville didn't have to beat every team, but it has had to tangle with some of the stronger teams in the 13-team, double-elimination tournament.

After opening with a 10-4 win over Granada to open the tournament, Danville suffered the 6-3 loss to San Ramon, but has bounced back with three-straight wins over Dublin, Livermore American (Monday) and third-place finisher Pleasanton American Tuesday.

Danville used five pitchers against Pleasanton American, three of which will be available against San Ramon because they stayed below the all-important 20-pitch count limit.

"I don't know how much the kids understand (about pitching situations), but I told everyone to be ready to come in," Hughes said. "Today was some tough decisions."

What helped Hughes' decisions were the amount of runs Danville was able to put up.

It took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when the left-handed hitter Murphy drilled a 3-1 pitch to center for a two-run homer.

"I was focused on watching the ball," Murphy said.

Murphy had a fine evening at the plate with three hits in three at-bats. He was walked twice, scored two runs and had three RBIs. He was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

It was a good thing Murphy did damage at the plate because he wasn't his tradition sharp self on the mound. The southpaw yielded four runs  in just a third of an inning. He walked three batters and hit one.

"If I have a bad day on the mound, I can balance it out at the plate," Murphy said.

After Murphy, Hughes got solid outings from Clayton Tennant, Joey Matulovich, Gregg Polosky and Ben Whitten.

Meanwhile, Danville scored four runs with two outs in the second inning that gave it a 6-4 lead, a lead it held the rest of the way. Danville brought nine batters to the plate in the second. The big hit was a two-run single up the middle by Nick Maroney, who went 2 for 5 with three RBIs.

Whitten went 3 for 4, hit a home run, scored three runs and had an RBI. Teammate Joey Spears went 2 for 5, scored a pair of runs and had two RBIs. And Riley Moore added a 3-for-4 effort, scored two runs and had two RBIs.

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Danville 14, Pleasanton American 7

Danville                       241 025 – 14 18 2

Pleasanton American 402 001 –  7  8  1

Danville (ab-r-h) — Spears 5-2-2, Maroney 5-1-2, Murphy 3-2-3, Vranesh 5-0-1, Tennant 4-'-2, Whitten 4-3-3, Barcelona 1-0-0, Matulovich 1-0-0, Polosky 2-1-1, Moore 4-3-2, Loyd 2-1-1, Hughes 1-1-0. Totals 37-14-18.

Pleasanton American (ab-r-h) — Coles 2-1-0, Galli 1-0-0, Still 2-1-1, Martin 1-0-0, Goodman 4-2-2, Geasa 4-1-0, Loughnane 3-2-2, Myers 1-0-1, Kwon 2-0-0, Parisi 1-0-1, Wilson 1-0-0, Mays 3-0-1, Molz 3-0-0. Totals 27-7-8.

Pitching

Murphy 1/3 ip, 0 h 4 r, 0 er, 3 bb, 0 k; Tennant 1 1/3 ip, 1 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 1 k; Matulovich 1 ip, 5 h, 2 r, 2 er, 0 bb, 3 k; Polosky 2 ip, 0 h, 0 r, 0 bb, 3 k; Whitten 1 1/3, 2 h, 1 r, 0 er, 0 bb, 1k.

Goodman 2 ip, 7 h, 6 r, 6 er, 0 bb, 1 k; Mays 3 1/3 ip, 4 h, 6 r, 6 er, 1 bb, 2k; Kwon 2/3 ip, 7 h, 2 r, 2 er, 1 bb, 0 k .

Hitting

RBIs — Maroney 3, Murphy 3, Spears 2, Moore 2, Vranesh, Tennant, Whitten, Polosky; Mays 2, Still, Loughnane, Myers, Parisi. 2B — Loughnan; Spears, Whitten, Murphy, Tennant, Polosky, Moore. HR — Murphy (Top 1, 1 out, 1 on), Whitten (Top 5, 0 out, 0 on).