Little League All Stars: Pleasanton American 12s Fall to San Ramon

San Ramon 11, Pleasanton American 0 (4 inn.)

Records: San Ramon 3-0, Pleasanton American 3-1

The Star: Jakey Ackerman led San Ramon with three shutout innings on the mound and helped his cause with a 2-for-3 effort and scored a pair of runs.

The Turning Point: Rocky Moore's grand slam to center field in the third inning gave San Ramon a commanding 7-0 lead.

Who's next: Pleasanton will face Danville in the losers' bracket Tuesday at Osage Park at 5:30 p.m.

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This wasn't the kind of game Pleasanton American fans were expecting coming off a fun-filled holiday weekend.

Having won its previous three games by a combined score of 31-11, the Pleasanton American Little League 11-12 year-olds fell to a mighty San Ramon opponent 11-0 in a game that was called in the fourth inning due to the 10-run rule.

"As soon as they get their bags into their cars, they're going to be thinking about tomorrow's game," Pleasanton American coach Don Galli said. "It doesn't matter what the score was. I think they'll be fine. That's baseball. Our boys are capable of putting a string of games together."

With the loss, Pleasanton American falls into the losers' bracket where it will face Danville, the defending district champions. The game will be at Osage Park at 5:30 p.m. today.

With that defeat, Pleasanton American has no room for error. It is 3-1 in the double-elimination tournament that began June 26 with 13 teams. This will be the first meeting between Danville and Pleasanton American.

In order for Pleasanton American to win the tournament, it would need to rack off three straight wins.

Things looked good early for Pleasanton American. It got a one-out double from Connor Mays (1 for 2) in the first inning. He went to third on a fielder's choice, but a strikeout ended the inning.

In the second, Jacob Wilson (1 for 2) doubled for Pleasanton American. He went to third on a wild pitch, but was stranded after a groundout to end the inning.

Meanwhile, San Ramon got to Pleasanton American starting pitcher Wilson with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second. San Ramon blew the game open with a five-run third and then added four more on a game-ending, 10-run rule home run in the fourth.

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San Ramon 11, Pleasanton American 0 (4 inn.)

Pleasanton American    000  0 — 0 3 2

San Ramon                       025  4 — 11 9 0

Pleasanton American (ab-r-h) — Gaesa 2-0-0, Mays 2-0-1, Goodman 2-0-1, Loughnane 2-0-0, Kwon 2-0-0, Martin 2-0-0, Wilson 1-0-1, Galli 1-0-0, Molz 1-0-0. Totals 15-0-3.

San Ramon — Jew 3-0-0, Pangelinian 3-2-2, Ackerman 3-2-2, Rocha 3-1-1, Ramirez 3-2-1, Gilfillan 1-0-0, Bagnall 1-1-1, Moore 2-2-2, Gerlach 1-0-0, Mendoza 1-0-0, Holden 0-0-0, Catson 1-1-0. Totals 22-11-9.

Pleasanton American — Wilson 2 1/3 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; Kwon 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K; Martin 0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K.

San Ramon — Ackerman 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K; Mendoza 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K.

Hitting

RBIs — Moore 5, Ramirez 2, Rocha, Bagnall, Gerlach.

2B — Mays, Wilson, Ackerman.

HR — Moore (Bottom 3, 1 out, 3 on), Ramirez (Top 4, 1 out, 1 on).