Little League All Stars: Pleasanton American 12s Come Up Short

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 gave Danville a 6-4 lead — a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

The Quote: "Our kids played hard and they didn't quit," Pleasanton American coach Don Galli said. "We have a bunch of fighters."

What's next? Pleasanton American will continue to play in tournaments, but it was eliminated from contention in the Little League World Series.

Bottom Line: Pleasanton American simply ran out of pitching and Danville took full advantage.

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It was a valiant effort, but in the end it wasn't enough for the Pleasanton American 11-12 year-old All-Star team to advance in the District 57 Tournament.

Pleasanton American, which took a 4-2 lead after the first inning, couldn't hang with the firepower of Danville in a 14-7 loss at Osage Park Tuesday evening.

"We were light on the pitching," said Pleasanton American coach Don Galli, whose team suffered an 11-0 loss to San Ramon on Monday. "But, Connor Mays stepped up and held serve."

Mays pitched three solid innings after he relieved starter Justin Goodman in the second, but Mays also ran out of gas late in the game.

The loss was the second in the 13-team, double-elimination tournament. Pleasanton American reeled off three straight wins to start the tournament and before suffering back-to-back losses the past two days to get eliminated. It finished third, the same position as last year.

"It's like déjà vu," Galli said.

Pleasanton American yielded a pair of runs to Danville in the first inning. Yet, that didn't deter Pleasanton American. It came back and plated four runs.

Rory Coles and Jackson Still opened the inning with back-to-back walks. A fielder's choice by Goodman put runners at first and third before Coles scored on an error. Goodman later scored on a bases loaded walk by Ryan Myers for a 3-2 lead. The final run of the inning came on a fielder's choice by Mays that scored Patrick Loughnane that gave Pleasanton American a 4-2 advantage.

"I thought we hit the ball well," Galli said. "We talked about not letting the scoreboard dictate and playing one inning at a time."

Loughnane went 2 for 3 with a double, scored two runs and had an RBI. Goodman went 2 for 4 and scored a pair of runs to go with an RBI. Mays was 1 for 3 and had two RBIs. Myers and Mike Parisi each went 1 for 1 with an RBI.

A crucial part of the game came in the top of the second inning when defending section champions Danville scored four runs to take a 6-4 lead, a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way.

Danville scored another run in the third to take a 7-4 lead. Still, Pleasanton American battled back with a pair of runs to close to within 7-6 in the bottom of the frame after RBI singles by Still and Mays.

That's the closest it would get as Danville added a pair of runs in the fifth and then broke the game open with a five-run sixth inning.

"They battled all six innings," Galli said.

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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

RBI — 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).