Brent Barstow, a 15-year-old freshman baseball player at Amador Valley High School, has been selected to play in the 26th annual World Baseball Tournament to be held in Mexico Aug. 6 through 13. The international competition includes teams from Mexico, Japan, Italy, China, Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, and the United States.
The 6-foot, 1-inch left-hander was nominated by coaches and selected after a special tryout in which only four roster spots were open.
Barstow, originally from Fremont, is no stranger to high-level, is no stranger to high-level competition. He’s been on a Little League team that advanced to the state championship in 2004 and played in the Babe Ruth State Tournament in 2005 and 2006. The pitcher, first baseman/outfielder will now get the opportunity to play against some of the top 15-year-old players in the world.
Notable alumni of the world team include Alameda’s Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins.
The team will play friendship games against Fukuoka, Japan and Fresno before heading to Mexico and living with host families during the week-long event.
Tri-Valley Futsal goes to state cup, announces new program
The Tri-Valley Futsal (TVF) entered five teams in the state cup: 2 GU12 (TVF Yellow and Green), 1 BU14 (Club America), 1 BU16 (No Names) and 1 BU19 (KTF). The Tri-Valley Futsal GU12 Yellow team, coached by coaches Jeff Alvarez and Art Garcia, earned second place. The trophy won for the league came after close to a month of training. It may also put Tri-Valley Futsal ahead of a bracket in the National competition, increasing the chances for a good place nationwide.TVF also recently announced the Futsal Player Development Program. For Futsal and soccer players in the area, TVF has engaged in a partnership with World United to bring players to a higher level of Futsal playing. The World United is the current U.S. Futsal champions, holds an impressive Futsal record and are currently representing the United States Futsal Federation at the intercontinental competition in Portugal. Their knowledge and achievements in Futsal are impressive.
“Tri-Valley Futsal is ready to go to the next step to become a Futsal power house in the Bay Area,” said Art Garcia, Vice President at Tri-Valley Futsal.
The program includes 14 hours of training (two hours a week for seven weeks) in the Tri-Valley area, registration to U.S. Futsal, one Tri-Valley Futsal T-shirt and quality coaching. The training will start April 22 and will cost $170 per player. The schedule is on the Web site, www.tri-valleyfutsal.com.
Foothill freshmen advance to championship game
Some timely hitting helped earn a win for Foothill last Monday. With a tight finale, the Foothill High School freshmen baseball team showed some of their true colors. Shawn Mannion pitched a 5-inning shutout in Foothill’s 4-3 victory over Antioch High School.The Falcons got things started on the right foot with Michael “The Bus” Hisaka’s RBI in the first inning to score Reece Yamada. Hisaka would single again in the fourth and score on Austin Mann’s well-hit double to the left-center field gap. In the fifth inning, Foothill would score again with Hisaka at the plate, scoring Justin Silva on an Antioch error. The Panthers mounted a comeback in the seventh frame, capitalizing on two walks and two batters being hit by pitch, making the score 3-3 going into the bottom of the seventh. Lefty Yamada led off the frame with a solid single to right field, advancing on Garrett Moore’s sacrifice bunt. It would again be “The Bus” delivering a much needed two-out single down the left field line to score Yamada for the 4-3 Falcon victory. Michael Theofanopoulos would get the win in a relief role while Mannion and Brock Blades contributed four and three assists respectively. Yamada reached base safely three times with two hits and a walk; Hisaka also had two clutch hits, two RBIs, and one run scored.
Derek Chao led Foothill’s 12-4 win over Pittsburg last Saturday. Foothill utilized its full team in a well rounded offensive attack to defeat Pittsburgh 12-4 in its first game of the Foothill Easter Classic. Chao’s two-hit performance included a double and two RBIs, eight Foothill batters combined for nine hits. Contributing hits for Foothill were Brock Blades, Jake Bussani, Elias Khoury, Mannion, Theofanopoulos, Yamada and Brian Yaniec. Austin Mann and Ryan Mende.
Foothill led from the first inning and never looked back. Foothill pitchers Troy Sales and Theofanopoulos held the Pittsburg batters to three hits and combined for five strikeouts.
PNLL AA Cardinals pull ahead of Mets
In Pleasanton National Little League’s AA Division, the Cardinals beat out the Mets 14-12. Good offense and defense was seen by both teams, with the Mets forcing runners out at second and third. After spotting the Redbirds a 10 -to-0 lead, the Mets started a comeback answering with five of their own.But the Cardinals kept flying. Players reaching base four out of four times included Jimmy Kaufman, Bobby Kaufman, Drew Highfill, and James Cowick, who went 2-for-2, with two walks, a single and a double. Kaufman scored four times and Highfill three. The RBI leaders were Cowick and Bryce Veit each with three, and Joshua Halperin, Mark Tsuno, and Alec Baughman, who went 2-for-2 with a walk, each with two RBIs. The pitching was lead, again, by Cowick and Baughman, who retired the side with 10 pitches. Next up, a rematch with the Mets after spring break.
American Little League going strong
T-BallYankees vs. Mariners: Great hitting and fielding skills were shown by all players. Outstanding game Yankees! Outstanding players: Camden McFarlane, Alex Benito, Karna Mendonca Kamath.
Farm A
Yankees vs. White Sox: The Yankees and White Sox squared off again for the last game of a back to back. Hitting the ball well, the Yankees again showed their great offense. Simon Carballo got two hits and hustled throughout the game. On defense, Matthew Slifer and Patrick Herz showed off with great plays at first and short respectively. Slifer grabbed several grounders and caught several White Sox trying to reach first. Herz made two great catches in the field one to end the game. The Yankees continued to show improvement but more importantly displayed great spirit showing how to enjoy playing the game.
White Sox vs. Yankees: Each of the White Sox played their best game yet, however it was David Kozuch that pummeled the ball this week with a triple, a double and consistent massive hits to the outfield. Jackson Holterhoff and Noor Gill also played well with rock solid hits every time they came up to bat. Go Sox!
Minor AA
Twins 10 vs. Indians 3: Twins clean-up batter Brandon Dodak blistered an inside-the-park homer past the right fielder to score two runners and break open a tense game against the Indians in the fifth inning. The lead run was scored by Bryce Wong, who led off three innings and scored each time after two walks and an infield single to spark the Twins offense. Phillip Herrera added three singles and an RBI, starting pitcher Patrick Loughnane held the Indians to a single run in the first, and Andy Bordenave allowed just one run over two innings and raced in to snare a liner to center to cool an Indians rally in the fifth inning.
Indians 3 vs. Twins 10: The Twins challenged the Indians with a rematch after a loss earlier in the week. Andrew Bonilla pitched an excellent round and hit a massive pop fly over second. In another huge moment, Nathan Casey made a split second throw to Jarrett Indalecio to tag a Twin out on third. The Indians lost, 3-10.
Minor AAA
Angels 7 vs. Indian 1: Jake Kinney and Justin “Lefty” Levis combined to hold the opposition to just one run, while Barrett Fitzgerald continued his torrid pace scoring three runs on two hits, Jake McIntosh had a double and scored two runs helping the Angels run their record to a league leading 5-0. Kinney was dominant on the hill, with a heavy fastball that consistently found the strike zone. “Lefty” contributed at the plate as well as the mound, cracking two hits. Sam Molz scored once, and Jack Harding continued to pound the ball, adding a hit and scoring a solo run. McIntosh, Craig White and Danny Terry each had an RBI apiece. Yen Wang and “Deej” Bradley each had defensive gems at Second Base, Bradley in particular ranging far from the bag to stab a hot grounder and attempting a Derek Jeter-like throw to first. All in all, the Angels continued to show excellent pitching, great defense, and timely hitting, all adding up to a total team effort.
Majors
Yankees 3 vs. Athletics 9: The Yankees were the first team that had two players go deep in the same game. In the second inning Brendan Jenkins crushed a ball over the left field fence, and in the third inning Alex Zwingle got a hold of one and sent it over the left field fence. An all-around, impressive hitting performance was made by Brendan going 3-for-3, while Ryan Mahoney went 2-for-3. On the mound the trio of Ryan Mahoney, Christopher Kinney and Brendan Jenkins held the A’s to two earned runs and five Ks.
Red Sox 2 vs. Rangers 6: The Red Sox played an excellent game against the Rangers. Defense on both sides was outstanding. The Red Sox started out the game on the defense and held the Rangers scoreless for two innings. Ryan Meisenheimer single handedly made the three outs in the top of the second by striking out two Rangers batters and catching a pop fly back to the pitcher. The other Red Sox infielders, Jimmy Doyle, Brian Hsu, Justin Cruz, Cameron Myers and Jason Menger at catcher all contributed with great defensive plays keeping the Rangers from scoring times. Great catches were made in the outfield by Kyle Greenan, Jon Gray and Drew Gray. Matt Westcott, Justin Cruz and Drew Gray, Jimmy Doyle, Meisenheimer, Brian Hsu all had hits for the team.
Junior 80s
Athletics 7 vs. Cardinals 8: The Pleasanton American Jr. 80 Aís had a touch morning in Livermore against the National Cardinals. The Cardinals maintained a 7-1 lead into the 4th inning when the Aís finally woke up and drove in some runs when Josh Rosenblatt knocked out a double and drove in 2 runs narrowing the score to 7-3 and in inning #5 Hwi Kim earned an RBI and Cole Hanley 2 RBIs both with solid hits to tie the score. But even with the team on a roll they were unable to take the lead. On defense Alec Elgood contributed on the mound throwing strikes. Anthony Shiells defended 1st base like a natural and Taylor LaPorte delivered in Center Field.
Athletics 9 vs/ Athletics 6: The Pleasanton American Jr. 80 A’s played an exciting game against the Pleasanton National Marlins. The game began with the A’s taking the field and giving up only 3 runs during the first inning. At bat, lead off hitter, Taylor LaPorte started the team off with a single. Cole Hanley followed with a triple earning an RBI to put the A’s on the score board. During the 2nd inning the Aís continued to swing a hot bat. Anthony Shiell batting first earned a single, going 2 for 2 for the game. Ryan Campbell followed at bat with a sacrifice fly allowing Anthony to cross home plate. The score now 3-4 in the Marlin favor. In the 3rd inning with Hwi Kim on the mound the team was able to hold the Marlins from scoring. On offense Jack Rogers hit a single and Billy Donahue got on base when he was hit by a pitch. Next up Cole Hanley, but the Marlins decided to intentionally walk Cole. With the bases now loaded Hwi Kim took his turn at bat and roped a hard hit to out field earning 2 RBIs changing the complexity of the game and turning the score around. Inning #6, Josh Rosenblatt took over on the mound ñ 1,2,3 strike you are out and at bat both Jack Rogers and Chris Granlund had bone crushing hits earning each a RBI to cinch the lead and win the game for the A’s.
Athletcis 2 vs. Cardinals 4: The Pleasanton American Jr. 80 Aís fought tough against the mighty Cardinals but could not pull off the win. The team battled hard in an effort to take the lead but ended up losing 4 to 2 despite a home run hit by Jack Rogers in inning #6 scoring the only two runs of the night for the Aís. On defense Jack made several key plays while on first to slow the Cardinals from advancing. Billy Donahue had a successful night on 3rd base with crucial plays throughout the game. Taylor LaPorte fielded a hard hit ball in center field and with an impressive throw was able to stop the running at 3rd. Great job Aís on very close game.
JUNIOR 90s
Phillis 1 vs. Phillies 15: The mighty Granada 90’s Gold visited Pleasanton in the first meeting of the 2007 season. Granada walked away with th win, scoring five runs in the first inning of play. PALL starter Nick Johnson then blanked them in the second inning of the game. Energized, Pleasanton countered with a run in their half of the second inning set up by a two-out, up-the-middle line drive single by Connor Farrell. Brent Usedom (RBI) then blooped a single into midfield, as Farrell rounded second base on toward third. A throwing error by Granada enabled Farrell to trot home for PALL’s only run of the game. Despite powerful pitching from the Livermore team, they recorded only one strike-out. Zach Piona went 2 for 3, along with 2 stolen bases. The Herman twins (Michael and Joseph) delivered back-to-back singles in late inning play. Although timely, the hits came up short to muster a rally of runs. Final score of the mid-wek game Granada 15 PALL 1
Phillies 7 vs. Phillies 17: Double-header Saturday against Granada 90’s Gold and PALL 90’s Gold came out with their bats ready for action…Despite Granada putting up 6 runs in the first inning, Pleasanton was quick to answer back with 5 runs of their own in the second inning of the game, sending 10 batters to the plate. Catcher Joe Herman started it all as he smashed a double deep to left. Sean O’Connell and Michael Herman drew walks from Granada to load the bases. To the plate, Zach Piona, who wallops a triple to clear the bases, for 3 RBIs. Kevin Phiengsai reaches first on a walk, advances to second on a wild pitch, and scores behind Piona for the fifth run of the inning as Nick Johnson pounds a double deep to the outfield for 2 RBIs. Granada held firm on their home field, as they would score 2 runs in the second and 4 more in the third. P-town would not give up, as they rallied up and added 2 runs in the fourth inning spurred with a Phiengsai single. His speed would carry him home when RJ Anderson’s bullet two-bagger would bring him across homeplate. Granada sealed the win as they added 5 runs in the fifth . Final score PALL 7 Granada 17
Phillies 1 vs. Phillies 11: Saturday’s second game of the Granada DH found PALL scoring early. Lead-off batter Zach Piona pounded out a double and then crossed home plate for the first run of the game on Jay Coles’ single. Coles then advanced to second on a wild pitch and two consecutive walks by Granada to Connor Farrell and Matthew Vance would load the bases. Unfortunately, the boys in red could not pull the trigger and 3 runners were stranded. Leading for the first time against this powerful team, defense proved key. Starter Connor Farrell held Granada scoreless in the first and third inning of the game, with an impressive 3 up/3 down first. Superb fielding was displayed by Matt Beadle (at third) and Jake Thornton (at first), to keep the Granada team at bay with numerous 5-3 opportunities throughout the game. PALL’s team effort and spirit cannot be denied. Final score PALL 1 Granada 11.
New state law prohibits law enforcement from posting mugshots on social mediaAugust 1, 2021 11:12 am
