Welcome to the Santa Cruz Little League

11 July

SCLL 8/9s AND 9/10s BRING HOME ALL-STAR CHAMPIONSHIPS!

In the culmination of one of the more astounding post-season runs in recent league memory, Santa Cruz Little League All-Stars took two out of three District 39 All-Star Championships yesterday at Aptos Little League when the 9 Year Old Americans beat host Aptos, 15-2, and the 10 Year Old Nationals defeated Scotts Valley, 9-7. In a hard fought nail-biter, the 12 Year Old Americans were defeated in extra innings, 7-6, by San Lorenzo Valley. The post-season record for Santa Cruz Little League shows two TOC Championships by the AAA Angels and the Majors Cardinals, and two All-Star Championships!

In the first game of the day the 9 Year Old match-up featured a three-run, inside-the-park home run by Santa Cruz's Rory Hatcher. In a well-balanced effort, Makai Schmidt, Abram Soriano, Anthony Karagiannopolous, Glenallen Hill Jr. and Sean Moran each contributed 2 RBIs. Trevor Whiting threw two innings to earn the win before handing the ball to Adrian Flores for the finish. The 9 Year Old Americans were managed by Todd Hilger.

The 10 Year Old game got off to a rousing start when Jack Dempewolf hit a solid single on the first pitch to Santa Cruz, and Caden Bobo drove him in with a ringing double on the second pitch of the game. After Josh Henderson's double made it 5-0, still in the bottom of the first, Nicolas Schroeder hammered the second pitch he saw deep into the brambles over the left field fence for a two-run homer, driving in Max DeHart for a 7-0 lead. The Nationals plated two more in the second inning and held off a hard run by Scotts Valley in the fifth to earn the 9-7 win for the Championship. The 10 Year Old Nationals now move on to the Sectional Tournament in Milpitas, starting July 17th. The 10 Year Old Nationals were managed by Jeff Barilati (a man who heard his last name pronounced in a variety of ways over the past couple of weeks).

The last game of the day was the 12 Year Old Americans against San Lorenzo Valley. This close game saw the Americans with a 4-1 lead at one point only to see the well-pitched and hard-hitting SLV team battle back. Santa Cruz was within an out of victory when SLV pushed across the tying run for a score of 6-6 at the end of regulation. In the bottom of the seventh a base hit to left for SLV drove in the winning run. Nathan Piscoitta pitched 5 strong innings for Santa Cruz, striking out eight batters, while belting two doubles at the plate. Clayton Cummings went 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs, Connor Whiting had an RBI double, and Maverick Kressman had a pair of hits. The Americans were managed by Jeff Leonard who, as a longtime manager, took two teams to the TOCs and was a dedicated member of the Board of Directors as Equipment Manager, American League Rep, and Vice-President. We are all thankful for Jeff's hard work, his enthusiasm, and his great skill in shaping many young baseball players.

It's been a memorable season for the Santa Cruz Little League. We thank all the parents and relatives who got the players to practices and games. And we thank the players, coaches, managers, and fans for a great, great season.

Sign-ups for Fall-Ball will be underway shortly (watch your mail and this site for details).

Have a great summer!

9 July

THREE SCLL TEAMS BATTLE FOR ALL-STAR CHAMPIONSHIPS!

This has been a post-season to remember for the Santa Cruz Little League. In addition to the victories by the Majors Cardinals and AAA Angels at the recently completed Tournament of Champions, this Saturday, July 10, will see the Santa Cruz 8/9 American League team, the 9/10 National League team, and the 11/12 American League teams play in District All-Star games at Aptos Liittle League. The 8/9 Americans get underway early, at 9:00am. The 9/10 Nationals play at 2:00pm, and the 11/12 Americans finish things up at 4:30. The Aptos Little League fields are located, cleverly enough, in Aptos at 1001 Huntington Drive Aptos CA 95003. Come on out and cheer for these great teams!

24 June

SANTA CRUZ LITTLE LEAGUE CLAIMS BOTH TOC CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Wednesday night was a great night for Santa Cruz Little League fans when the AAA Angels and the Majors Cardinals claimed the title "Champion" when the Angels beat Scotts Valley 9-2 and the Cardinals beat the Santa Cruz Majors Red Sox 19-11.

The Angels were ahead of Scotts Valley 4-2 going into the 5th inning when they pushed across 5 runs to take a 9-2 lead. Josh Henderson pitched a solid 5-1/3 innings without walking any and giving up only 1 earned run, while going 1 for 2 at the plate with 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs. Miles Houser, Elijah Francis, and Dylan Dunn had 2 hits apiece, while Alex Serna, Bryce Hankins, and Chris Martinez added key hits in the championship game. Elijah Francis, Chris Martinez, and Dylan Dunn made key defensive catches to thwart Scotts Valley rallies. The Angels were undefeated in the regular season.

The Major Cardinals showed grit and determination in losing their first TOC game to the Santa Cruz Majors Red Sox but then coming back to win an amazing 6 games in the span of 8 days. Anyone who knows anything about baseball, particularly Little League baseball knows that the Cardinals must have had plenty of pitching to make that sort of run. 8 runs in the first inning put the Cardinals ahead for good. Eight different Cardinals had at least one hit in the game. Allen-Raffety went 4-for-5 with a double and solo home run and scored five runs. Christian Turney went 3-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and scored twice. Cruz Lambert went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, and scored four runs. Nathaniel Brezner-Mendoza went 2-for-4 with a double, four RBIs and a scored a pair of runs. The win went to Cruz Lambert.

Congratulations to the Minors TOC Champion Angels and the Majors TOC Champions Cardinals!

23 June

SC AAA ANGELS PLAY TONIGHT FOR MINORS TOC TITLE!!!!!

What a season! The Angels, managed by Steve Houser, were undefeated in the regular season, but beaten by the A's in the local playoffs. However, the Angels were again undefeated in Tournament play until last night when they were beaten by Scotts Valley, always a tough opponent. The winner of tonight's game takes the Minors TOC Champioship! This final game of the Tournament is at Pajaro Valley Little League in Watsonville at 6:00pm tonight. BEST OF LUCK TO THE SANTA CRUZ LITTLE LEAGUE ANGELS AS THEY GO FOR THE TITLE TONIGHT!! Be there to cheer them on!! (It must be mentioned here that it's pretty remarkable that Santa Cruz Little League teams are playing in the Minors and Majors TOC Championship games this season.)

22 June

MORE UNBELIEVABLENESS!!! CARDS HAND RED SOX FIRST TOURNAMENT LOSS, FORCE WINNER-TAKE-ALL GAME!!!!!

The Santa Cruz Majors Cardinals made it 5 wins in 7 days by beating the Red Sox Tuesday night at Capitola-Soquel Little League, 6-4. It all comes down to this: The winner of the Wednesday night game is the 2010 District 39 Majors TOC Champion! If you like baseball AT ALL, you gotta come out to the final game of the Tournament (no, really, we mean it) Wednesday evening at 5:30 at Capitola-Soquel Little League.

21 June

UNBELIEVABLE!!! SC AL CHAMP RED SOX PLAY SC NL CHAMP CARDINALS FOR TOC CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!

After 17 TOC games it comes down to this: The Santa Cruz Majors American League  Champion Red Sox, managed by Jeff Leonard play the Santa Cruz Majors National League Champion Cardinals, managed by Jim Andronico, will play for the Tournament of Champions Championship TONIGHT, Tuesday, June 22nd, at 5:30 at the Capitola-Soquel Majors Field! The Red Sox are undefeated in the Tournament so a win Tuesday night means they take the Championship. A win by the Cardinals on Tuesday night forces the final playoff Wednesday night at 5:30. Either way, the TOC flag is coming back to Santa Cruz! Whether you're a Cardinals fan or a Red Sox fan or just a fan of great baseball, you may never see two Santa Cruz teams playing for the TOC Championship again, so come out to Cap-Soquel and support these great teams!!!

2010 All-Stars

This year's All-Star teams have been announced. The rosters can be found by clicking on the link at the left. Congratulations to all the All-Stars!

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING ALL-STARS:

Thursday, June 17th is the MANDATORY registration for 2010 All-Stars. Even though everyone registered for the regular season, All-Stars MUST REGISTER AGAIN. This is a rule of Little League International and we, as members, must abide by it.

All-Star registration will be Thursday, June 17th, from 7:30pm to 8:30pm at Harvey West Park Club House (in deep, deep left field at Field 1). You will register with your Manager of your All Star team. Each player and parent MUST BE PREPARED and BRING THE FOLLOWING:

3.  Updated Medical Release Forms signed and dated for June 15th or later (form can be found on-line)

Congratulations!!!

On Wednesday night the Red Sox won the American League pennant with a 2-0 victory over the Yankees, and the Cardinals won the National League pennant with a 7-4 victory over the Cubs. Both pennant winners will go to the TOC at Capitola-Soquel Little League. Congratulations to both winners!

All-Stars and TOC Locations

All-Stars will start on June 26, 2010 and finish July 10th

8-9 year olds All-Stars will be hosted by San Lorenzo Valley Little League

9-10 year olds will be hosted by Scotts Valley Little League

10-11 year olds will be hosted by Pajaro Valley Little League

12 year old (Majors) will be hosted by Santa Cruz Little League

Both TOC will start on June 13, 2010, and finish on June 23rd

Majors Tournament of Champions will be hosted by Capitola-Soquel Little League

Minors Tournament of Champions will be hosted by Pajaro Valley Little League

Championship game for each level will all be played on July 10 at Aptos Little League