Orinda 12A Pleasant Hill Champs Photo Lisa Haskell

The Orinda Spartans 12U PONY team captured the annual Pleasant Hill Baseball Association tournament title with a doubleheader sweep of the host teams on Sunday, June 13. In the first elimination game, Orinda downed the Pleasant Hill 12U team 6-2; then avenged an earlier defeat to the Pleasant Hill 11U team to win the championship game 15-5.

In the morning game, Orinda jumped out to an immediate 2-0 lead as Clayton Stehr and Ben Hoxie singled to start the game, and scored on RBI singles by Andrew Deaver and Eric Nyman. Dylan Kronenberg started on the hill for the Spartans, and held the Hawks to only one run in three innings (3 IP, 1R, 4H, 1BB, 1HBP, 3K).

After Deaver stranded Hawk runners on second and third base in the fourth, the Hawks pushed across a run in the fifth to even the game at two all. After a scoreless sixth inning, the Spartan bats exploded for four huge runs in the top of the seventh inning. Kronenberg led off the rally with a single, and Nyman followed with same. Ryan Anderson then blasted a long triple driving in what proved to be the winning runs. Clayton Haskell scored Anderson with a groundout, and with two out, Zach Wong singled and stole second base. Kevin Shepard fouled off some nasty two strike pitches before singling on a full count pitch, driving in Wong with the final run.

In the bottom half inning, Deaver pitched tough with men on-base, again stranding two runners, but holding the Hawks scoreless to send the Spartans into the championship game (4 IP, 1R, 3H, 3BB, 1K).

Having lost to the Hawks 11U team 9-5 in pool play, the Spartans were excited to get a second chance in the championship, and wasted no time jumping out to a lead. Stehr, Deaver, Nyman, and Anderson all scored in the top of the first inning with Anderson's double being the big blow. But the lead looked to be short-lived as starting pitcher Dan Ritelli walked the bases full on 14 pitches with one out in the bottom half of the inning. Then, Ritelli found his groove and retired the next two dangerous hitters on a grounder and fly out, allowing only one run. Ritelli would go on to shut out the Hawks the next two innings (3 IP, 1R, 2H, 4BB, 1K).

Orinda added to its lead in the second making the score 7-1.

The Hawks, however, did not give up. Hoxie came in to pitch the sixth inning, and the Hawks scored two runs on three hits, making it a 9-5 game. Not to be outdone, the Spartan bats exploded in the 7th putting the game out of reach.

The Spartans travel to Vacaville to play in the PONY sanctioned World Series Bronco division beginning after July 4th.