Livermore All Stars Fall Hitless, Runless to Danville

The Star: All of Danville’s players were getting on base against Livermore, but Ryan Bowman stood out as the night’s top hitter. Bowman smashed a two-run homer in the sixth, his first home-run of the tournament, and finished the night with three hits and three RBIs.

The Turning Point: After a scoreless first inning, Danville was looking for an offensive spark. It came in the form of a triple from eight-hole hitter Nolan Bartnick that drove in Ryan Bowman. Bartnick also scored on an RBI single from Mason Banks, putting Danville up 2-0.

The Quote: "We kept chipping away, getting hits, and putting players on the bases," said Danville coach Mark Dawson. "The team feeds on the good plays that are made by one another. They play through the highs and they play through the lows."

What's next? Danville stays alive in the District 57 All Star Tournament, with its next game Thursday at 5:30 p.m. against Pleasanton National, a team that beat Danville 6-3 last week. With the loss, Livermore is officially eliminated from the tournament.

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The 12-year-old Danville All Stars know they can make it back to the District 57 tournament finals for the third straight year, and the team proved it with a commanding 8-0 win over Livermore American Wednesday night.

Pitching was once again the key for Danville, with the four pitchers— Conner Redmond, Nick Venezia, Darroch Koel, and Ryan Bowman— giving up no hits and allowing only four Livermore players to reach base.

“(The pitchers) know they’re going in for a limited and specific purpose, and that’s to throw strikes and get quick outs,” said Danville coach Mark Dawson.

While the defense and pitching kept Livermore’s bats silent, Danville’s hitters slowly but surely added to the team’s lead.

Nolan Bartnick put Danville’s first run on the board when he smashed an RBI triple in the second inning, sparking the offense.

“We kept chipping away, getting hits, and putting players on the bases," said Danville coach Mark Dawson. "The team feeds on the good plays that are made by one another. They play through the highs and they play through the lows."

Two of the game’s highs undoubtedly came when Redmond hit a home-run to start the third inning and when Ryan Bowman hit a two-run homer in the sixth, capping off the team’s eight runs.

The only flaw in an otherwise dominant performance by Danville was the three errors committed by the defense. Two of the errors were committed in the infield, which Dawson attributed to the all-dirt infield that gave the ball a hard-to-predict bounce.

Danville will need to play a game similar to the Livermore match if the team is to defeat Pleasanton National in the game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Pleasanton beat Danville 6-3 last Friday, but this time around the team that loses will be eliminated while the winner will have the chance to play Tassajara Valley for the District 57 Championship.

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Danville          0 2 2 2 0 2 - 8 10 3

Livermore       0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 4

Danville (ab-r-h) Venezia 4-0-0, Koel 4-0-1, Redmond 4-2-2, Neswick 4-2-1, Bowman 4-2-3, Dawson 4-1-0, Ludwig 2-0-0, Bartnick 1-1-1, Banks 4-0-1, Batza 2-0-0, Lonestar 3-0-1; Totals 36-8-10.

Livermore American (ab-r-h) Gonzales 3-0-0, Parker 3-0-0, Westrope 3-0-0, Disbrow 3-0-0, Redditt 2-0-0, Scull 1-0-0, Heise 1-0-0, Malski 2-0-0, Schwartz 2-0-0, Pinon 1-0-0, Hill 1-0-0; Totals 22-0-0.

Pitching

Danville: Redmond 1 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 2 K, 0 BB; Venezia 2 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 0 BB; Koel 1,1/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 1 BB; Bowman 1,2/3 IP, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 H, 3 K, 0 BB.

Livermore: Westrope 2,2/3 IP, 4 R, 4 ER, 6 H, 5 K, 2 BB, 1 HBP; Hill 3,1/3 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 4 H, 3 K, 1 BB.

Batting

2B – Redmond (D)
3B – Bartnick (D)
HR – Redmond (D), Bowman (D)
RBI – Redmond (D), 3 Bowman (D), Bartnick (D), 2 Banks (D)