SALIDA — One day after Ripon clawed its way into the championship final of the District 67 11U All-Star Tournament Ripon left little doubt who the champion is after a 15-1 four-inning mercy-rule thumping of Northgate for the cherished championship banner at Salida Park.
Making the victory even sweeter was the fact that as 10-year olds Northgate bounced Ripon out of both the Tournament of Champions and All-Star
“This is sweet,” Ripon coach Chris Dietrich said. “I played for Northgate all-stars when I was 12.
“Our team came together. We were in the loser’s bracket and that gave us the chance to play a lot of games together and become a team.”
Ripon put up seven runs in the second inning and five in the fourth. Rocco Noble (2 for 2, two RBI, double, two runs), Mason Dodson and Jude Segura led off the Ripon second with consecutive walks and Landon Viss (2 for 2, four RBI, double, run) brought all three in. Viss eventually scored as did Gio Sandoval (three runs), Hudson Rushing (RBI, two runs) and Bronson Dietrich (2 for 2, RBI, double, two runs), all of whom singled. Benji Sybesma (two RBI, run) knocked Rushing and Dietrich came home on a delayed steal to make the score 9-1.
Noble singled in Jessy Vega and Easton Cloward in the fifth. Cloward knocked in Dietrich, Sandoval scored on a Dietrich double and Jesse Hernandez singled in Sybesma for the final score of 15-1. In the first inning, Sybesma and Vega reached on errors with Sybesma plating Sandoval and Rushing scoring when Vega reached. Noble doubled in the third and scored on Viss’ second hit of the night.
Dodson went the abbreviated distance on the hill, allowing just one hit on an infield single by Isaiah Barron. Dodson struck out four, hit two and walked one. Northgate hit just one ball out of the infield and right fielder Cloward threw out that runner at first.
Ripon will represent District 67 in the Section 6 Tournament at Christa McAuliffe school in Stockton on Saturday at 10 a.m.
Ripon 12, Northgate 11
Vega came up big three times for Ripon but none bigger than his walk-off single Saturday that forced Sunday’s winner-take-all showdown.
Trailing 11-10 going into the bottom of the sixth, Ripon’s Sandoval (two runs) reached on a one-out error and advanced to third on Rushing’s ground-rule double. Sandoval tied the game on a groundout by Sybesma (two RBI, double, run) and Vega (3 for 4, four RBI, home run, double, three runs) ended the game on a single that plated Rushing.
Ripon was in control through the first three innings, carrying an 8-2 lead into the fourth when Northgate scored five times.
Levi Morris (two runs) and Manoah Ellis (RBI, run) led off the Northgate fourth with back-to-back walks and both worked their way around to score on wild pitches and passed balls. Jameson Hicks was hit by a pitch and scored on a Decker Hogan single. Alius Lopez reached on a dropped third strike and he and Hogan (2 for 3, RBI, two runs) came in on bases-loaded walks to Rylan Luna and Derek Trujillo to come within 8-7.
Northgate went ahead 10-9 in the fifth. Barron walked and came in on a sacrifice fly by Ellis; Morris reached and scored on an error and Diesel Spangler doubled and scored on an error off the bat of Hogan. With two outs in the sixth, Ealin Showers singled, reached third on an error off the bat of Barron and scored when an infield grounder by Morris was misplayed to put Northgate ahead 11-10
Ripon scored three runs in the second behind Segura’s single that scored Vega and Viss’ two-RBI double that plated Logan Alexander (double, two runs) and Noble (RBI, run).
Vega blasted a three-run home run in the third that scored Sybesma and Cloward. Later in the inning Noble singled in Alexander to put Ripon ahead 8-2.
Ripon scored one run in the first, fourth and fifth innings. Dietrich reached on a fielder’s choice in the fifth and scored on Sybesma’s double; Sandoval singled in the fourth and scored on Dietrich’s single and Vega doubled in the fifth, scoring on a bases-loaded walk to Dodson to tie the score at 10-10.
