Little League: Tassajara Valley 12s Crush Hillsborough to Win Section Title

If there was any doubt the 12-year-old all star team could get the bats going against Hillsborough, Nate Landman put that notion to bed early. 

The Tassajara leadoff hitter launched a second-inning grand slam to put the Danville-based team up 5-0 propelling the team to a 16-3 win and the Northern California Section 3 title.

Tassajara moves on to the NorCal Divisional tournament in Chico on Saturday, which precedes the Western Regionals in San Bernardino. 

"I wasn't trying to hit a home run," Landman said. "I just wanted to hit the ball hard."

Make no mistake, Landman was happy to take the grand slam. With Jack Maloon on the mound, a five-run cushion was sure to be enough — especially the way Tassajara had been swinging the bats.

"The big boys have been doing it all year long and today it was Landman," manager Jorge Garratt said. "Landmand's grand slam was the biggest hit of the day." 

Maloon doubled to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a single from Erik Krommenhoek and scored when Hillsborough threw to second to tag out Krommenhoek on the same play. It was the first of several instances where Tassajara forced the issue on the base paths. 

The Big Red Machine proved it could manufacture a run in the third. Jack Fryer and Maloon drew back-to-back leadoff walks, Frommenhoek advanced them both with a sacrifice bunt and Nate White made it 6-0 with a sacrifice fly. 

After Max Michalczik and Turner Olson added runs in the fourth Tassajara was in full on cruise control. There was bit of a hiccup when Hillsborough made it 8-3 in the bottom half of the inning, but Tassajara answered with a bang.

Maloon and Frommenhoek both singled to lead off the inning and after a pair of strikeouts Tassajara's bats went to work. 

Luke Garratt hit the first of what ended up being seven-straight hits for the boys from Danville. By the time the hit barrage was over, Tassajara had built a 16-3 lead, capped by a homer by Maloon.

"Every time a team scores against us, we try to double it when we get up," Landman said. 

The team hasn't had to do that very often. In the three games in the Section tournament, which was hosted by Danville Little League at Osage park, Tassajara outscored its opponents 34-5. The team is 7-0 so far this summer and has outscored its opponents 78-17.

"We worked incredibly hard on hitting these guys are tremendous when it comes to hitting," Jorge Garratt said.

Danville Little League, which, won the 11-year-old Divisional title .

Tassajara Valley won the NorCal Division title in 1998 before placing third in the Western Regional.