The Tri-Valley Sliders continued their autumn roll by winning the 16U December Polar Bear Classic Tournament in Sunnyvale, the local team’s fifth championship of the season.
The Sliders — comprised of players from Amador Valley, Foothill, Granada and Livermore high schools — batted .496 as a team and outscored opponents 49-9, including a tight 2-1 victory in the title game Dec. 7 at Twin Creeks Sports Park.
“The Sliders had excellent pitching, explosive hitting and near perfect defense,” coach Dave Ott said.
Dante Albanese led the Slider offense with eight hits and a .727 average, including a home run, two doubles, four RBI, a team-high seven runs scored.
Michael Kodial also batted .727 with eight hits, including a double, two RBI and six runs.
TJ Meyers, Griffin Chin, AJ Warford, Tim Michael, Cole Torquemada and Jordan Mello each had four or more hits, three or more runs scored and multiple RBI. Carson Quintana led the team in RBI with seven.
The Sliders opened pool play the night of Dec. 6 with a 13-1 win behind the pitching of Albanese and Kodial.
Kodial and Quintana each starred on the mound in the team’s 10-1 victory in its second game. The Tri-Valley squad won its quarterfinal 10-4 and its semifinal 14-2.
The championship game against Redwood City-based Diamond Core Training (DCT) proved a much tighter affair for the Sliders, who earned the 2-1 victory behind a complete game effort from pitcher Joshua Ott.
Michael got the Sliders going in the top of the third inning with a key defensive play, throwing out a DCT baserunner at the plate to keep the game knotted at 0-0.
Mello put the Sliders on the board in the next half-inning with a towering solo home run to center field.
DCT would tie the score at one-run apiece in the top of the sixth, only to see the Sliders regain the advantage in the bottom half.
Kodial, who reached on a single, scored the game-winning run on Meyers’ two-out double. Joshua Ott retired the side in the top of the seventh to clinch the win.
The Tournament MVP trophy was awarded to the entire Sliders team for “their outstanding team play throughout the five games,” Dave Ott said. The Sliders played all of their Polar Bear Classic games within a 22-hour period because of rain and wet fields.
