Little League All Stars: San Ramon Valley 12s Cruise by Canyon Creek

The Star: J.T. Marcinkowski might have been a double short of the cycle, but Grant Jones stole the show on the mound. In a game where San Ramon Valley was in control from the start, Jones quietly shut down a Canyon Creek offense that put up 15 runs just two days ago. Nine of the 12 outs Jones got in his four innings of work came by way of the strike out. Only one Canyon Creek runner reached third base in the game.

The Turning Point: San Ramon Valley was in control from the beginning, but Bryce Anderson's ground rule double in the top of the first solidified their lead. Anderson's two-bagger plated two and put himself in scoring position. Anderson would later score on Johnny Cox's single.

The Quote: "We have a chance to go pretty far," Jones said. "All we have to do is take it one game at a time."

What's next? San Ramon Valley will continue to play through the loser's bracket of the District 57 all-star tournament, facing the winner of Granada LL and Pleasanton Foothill LL on Thursday. San Ramon Valley will need to win its next six games to win the tournament.

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From the first batter of the game, everyone knew this game belonged to San Ramon Valley.

The San Ramon Valley 12-year-old all stars easily defeated Canyon Creek LL 16-0 to move on in the District 57 all-star tournament.

"This was a good win for us," said coach Russ Cox. "We came out flat in our last game, but I felt we came out firing on all cylinders today. I'm proud of the team."

San Ramon Valley put up an eight spot in the first on six hits. San Ramon Valley was also patient at the plate, taking four free passes in their half of the first. Marcinkowski and Zach Sherman had back-to-back RBI singles to put San Ramon Valley on top.

SRV hit for the cycle in the third as it added five runs to its lead. Jones singled, followed by Marcinkowski's triple. Sherman hit a homer to deep left-center which was followed by Bryce Anderson's second double of the day.

San Ramon Valley added three in the top of the fourth for good measure, to secure the big win.

"I'm very encouraged by what I saw in our offense today," Cox said. "This win will give confidence to our players."

While Cox was glad to see his offense step up, he was arguably most proud of what Jones did on the mound.

"Grant did exactly what we asked him to do," Cox said. "He was very efficient and threw a lot of strikes. He did a fabulous job."

 Even though San Ramon Valley has a long way to go to win this tournament, Cox is confident this team can do it due to San Ramon Valley's depth on the mound.

"We got a tough road ahead of us," Cox said. "We're deep on pitching, so it all depends on how well we hit."

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San Ramon Valley LL 16, Canyon Creek LL 0

San Ramon Valley 8053xx — 16 14 1   

Canyon Creek 0000xx — 0 5 0  

San Ramon Valley — Cox 1-1-3, Jones 2-2-3, Marcinkowski 3-3-3, Sherman 2-3-2, Behen 1-2-1, Anderson 2-2-2, Medley 0-2-0, Flemming 1-1-0, Lewis 0-1-1, Jefferies 0-1-0, Partridge 0-2-1

Canyon Creek — Floyd 2-3-0, Wang 0-1-0, Lyijynen 1-1-0, Grove 0-2-0, Bargas 1-1-0, Chough 0-1-0, Escobar 0-1-0, Lemrak 0-1-0, Watson 1-1-0, Ramsay 0-1-0, Douglas 0-1-0, Mague 0-2-0

Pitching

San Ramon Valley — Jones 4 IP, 0 R, o ER, 5 H, 9 K, 2 BB

Canyon Creek — Chough 1/3 IP, 7 R, 7 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB; Grove 1 2/3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 K, 3 BB; Escobar 1 1/3+ IP, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 H, 0 K, 1 BB; Zemrak 1 IP, o R, o ER, 1 H, 0 K, 0 BB

Hitting

2B —Anderson, 2, (San Ramon Valley), Flemming (San Ramon Valley), Jones (San Ramon Valley), 3B — Marcinkowski (San Ramon Valley) HR — Sherman, 3rd, one on (San Ramon Valley), Marcinkowski, 4th, one on (San Ramon Valley)