2011 All-Stars & TOC's Recap

TVLL 12 Year Old All-Stars Win Section Tournament; Move on to NorCal State Championship

Our 12-year-old All-Stars are on a roll, winning the Section Championship undefeated

Read how they advanced to the Section Finals.

They now move on to the Northern California Championship starting this Saturday, 7/23 @ 3:00 pm, at Chico Eastside Little League.

Use this link to view Northern California State Championship Brackets with schedule information. (We are representing Section 3.)

TVLL 10 Year Old All-Stars Win Granada and Dublin Tournaments

Since placing second in the District Championship, the 10's have been on a tear and are undefeated winning both the Granada and Dublin Tournaments. They were 10-0 and only yielded a single run during the entire Dublin Tournament.

TVLL 12 Year Old Tournament Team Wins TVLL Tournament

Our 12 Year Old Tournament Team won our own Turf 'n Dirt Tournament defeating Danville on Wednesday night 2-0 in the Championship. Brett Tressen and Chris Worley combined for a six inning shut out.

TVLL 12 Year Old All-Stars Win District 57 Title; Move on to Sectionals

From (Danville Patch)

When the Little League regular season ended and the Tassajara Valley 12-year-old all star team started practicing, there was a feeling amongst the parents and players that this summer the team could do something special.

"I thought during our two-a-day practices we were good enough to win it all," first-baseman Jack Maloon said. "We were always staying positive."

And while the positivity certainly didn't hurt, manager Jorge Garratt knew it'd take a whole lot more than that for the team to capture the District 57 banner.

After cruising through the winner's bracket Tassajara waited the arrival of two-time defending NorCal champion Danville, which, after falling to Pleasanton National, fought its way back through the loser's bracket to reach the District 57 title game for the third-straight year.

As 11-year-olds, Tassajara finished third in District 57 play, which included a 2-0 loss in the winner's bracket to Danville.

"As nines (Danville) 10-runned this team, as 10s (Danville) 10-runned this team," Garratt said. "Last year it was 2-0, but then we beat them in a travel ball tournament (before the all star season started this year). That was a big confidence builder."

In Friday's championship at Osage Park, Danvile built a 4-1 lead through three innings and looked poised to force a deciding game with ace Darroch Koel on the mound. But after Danville put up three runs in the third, Tassajara responded with two runs in the fourth. Maloon led the inning off with a single, Erik Frommenhoek followed with a double and later stole home on a first-and-third play.

After Danville was silenced in the fourth, Nate Landman drew a leadoff walk in the fifth. Jack Fryer then gave Danville the lead for good at 5-4 with a towering one-out home run.

"Even when (Danville was) up I wasn't worried," Garratt said. "This is how the team has played all year."

The exclamation point came in the sixth when Maloon, who looks more suited for high school baseball than Little League, launched a grand slam to put Tassajara up 9-4, the eventual final score.

"I went up there trying to hit a home run," he said. "Now we want to go to Williamsport."

To get to Willamsport, Penn., where the Little League World Series is hosted and televised by ESPN, Tassajara still has a long road to travel.

It'll begin on July 17 in the Section 3 tournament, which is followed by the divisional round and the regionals before Williamsport becomes a reality.

TVLL 12 Year Old All-Stars

TVLL 11 Year Old All-Stars Win Dublin Tournament

Led by great pitching from Ryan Fleming and Michael Jelveh, our 11 year Old All-Stars were locked in a pitching duel in the Championship game with Livermore American. With the game tied at 1-1, Michael Jelveh hit a 2-run walkoff home run to secure the game and the tournament championship.

Way to go team!

TVLL 11 Year Old All-Stars

TVLL 10 Year Old All-Stars Come Close in District Championship

From (Danville Patch)

The 10-year-old Tassajara all stars proved themselves to be the toughest opponents for San Ramon in the District 57 Tournament, but still they were unable to pull off a comeback Friday night, falling 12-5 to San Ramon in the championship game.

Despite what the final score suggests, Friday's game was San Ramon's closest match all tournament.

"One of the things we demonstrated was that (San Ramon and Tassajara) were the two right teams to be in the finals game," said coach Larry Van Steenhuyse.

San Ramon went ahead early, but Tassajara — only down by three runs after four innings — was positioned to strike.

A single by Ryder Martin in the fifth inning, followed by two RBI doubles from Keaton Littlefield and Cole Tom put the score at 6-5, with Tassajara threatening to tie or take the lead.

With runners on first and second and only one out, San Ramon coach Todd Meyer replaced pitcher Brenden Schooley with Jack Hinds.

After striking out the first batter he faced, Hinds gave up a single to Beau Garratt that loaded the bases. But with help from second baseman Sam Keller, Hinds got the groundout to end the inning and maintain San Ramon's slim lead.

"He came up huge," said Meyer. "I put him in a tough situation and he did a great job of getting out of the fifth and then finishing off things in the sixth."

After escaping from the fifth, San Ramon's offense exploded in the top of the sixth. Andrew Meyer's two-run double, Hinds's RBI single, and Jake Benno's RBI groundout aided in San Ramon scoring six runs to seal the win.

"We got behind early and we clawed our way back," said Van Steenhuyse. "It was 6-5 going into the sixth inning, and the game just got out of our hands at that point."

Though Tassajara had succeeded in slowly cutting away at San Ramon's lead, the team passed up multiple opportunities to put up more runs.

For four consecutive innings, from the second to the fifth, Tassajara's offense left the bases loaded thanks to clutch pitching by San Ramon. In total 15 Tassajara runners were left on base.

"We were one big hit away from really swinging the game back in our favor," said Van Steenhuyse.

Though San Ramon's pitchers got the outs when needed, players were struggling at the mound for both sides.

San Ramon's three first-inning runs were walked in by Tassajara, as was Tassajara's one run in the third.

"It was the end of a two-week tournament and it looked like arms for both sides were a little bit tired," said Meyer.

San Ramon had defeated Tassajara 7-4 on Wednesday in another close game, and Van Steenhuyse said it was no surprise seeing San Ramon in the finals.

As winners of District 57, San Ramon will advance to the NorCal Section 3 competition, playing its first game July 17 at Los Cerros Middle School.

Majors Dodgers Win District 57 Tournament of Champions

The Majors Dodgers brought home Tassajara Valley's first Little League International banner in nearly 2 decades by winning the 2011 District 57 Tournament of Champions. The Dodgers won 4 straight games at San Ramon's Athan Downs Park from June 18-21 to take the crown.

During the Tassajara Valley regular season the Dodgers placed first with an 18-2 record and then went on to win the playoffs, earning the right to represent Tassajara Valley in the TOC.

Mike Jelveh started Game 1 against the Pleasanton National Marlins before turning it over to the relief corps of Jack Maloon, Austin McFarlane, and Chris Worley. The Dodgers went into the bottom of the 6th down 5-1, and their first 6 batters produced 1 run, 2 outs, and a bases loaded situation for McFarlane, who hit a ground rule double to bring the Dodgers to within one. Eli Hoban then hit a line drive into the right center gap to drive in the winning run. As throughout the tournament, Jaylen Jackson and Jack Van Sossen saved pivotal runs with excellent outfield defense.

On Sunday the Dodgers broke open a tight 4-4 game with the Pleasanton Foothill Angels, scoring 11 runs in the 5th and 6th innings. Austin McFarlane started and won the game for Tassajara and Sean Maloon came in for the save. Tyler Vanhole, Chris Worley, and Austin McFarlane combined for 5 home runs (3 in 1 inning). Worley and McFarlane each had 2; one of Austin's was a grand slam.

In Monday's semifinal against the San Ramon Phillies, Mike Jelveh hit a 2 run home run to break a 3-3 tie and propel the Dodgers into the final with what would end up as a 5-4 win. Mike was also the starting and winning picture, with Chris Worley coming in for the save. Both Jelveh and Mike Roy scored two runs, with Roy fielding the last out with the tying and go ahead runs on 2nd and 3rd.

In Tuesday's Championship game against the Granada Giants, the Dodgers put a run up in the first after Austin McFarlane lead off with a single and was driven in by Tyler Vanhole. Jack Maloon started for Tassajara and pitched 3 scoreless innings before maxing out his pitch count in the 4th when Chris Worley came in to relieve. Going into the bottom of the 4th Granada was ahead 3-1 when Mike Jelveh got hit by a pitch with two outs and was replaced with special base runner Ryder Martin. Ryder went to 2nd on a wild pitch and then had a brazen steal of 3rd, catching Granada's battery unaware. Ryder would then use his speed to score on another wild pitch to cut the deficit to 3-2. Granada got a home run in the 5th to go up 4-2, but in the bottom of the fifth McFarlane and Hoban got singles and Worley got hit to load the bases to set the stage for Jack Maloon to hit an epic grand slam to put Tassajara up 6-4. In the 6th Granada got one run and had runners on 3rd and 1st before Chris Worley got the last out on a pop up to his five year teammate Jack Maloon to wrap up the 6-5 win and the championship.

The Tassajara Valley Major's Dodgers finished the season with a 26-3 record. This was the 3rd straight time that coaches Mike McFarlane, Mike Maloon, and Keith Vanhole had taken their Dodgers to the TOCs, compiling a record of 64-10-2 during the span.