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Turlock American 11s falter at State
Little League 4
Turlock American 11s All-Star Andy Owen scores the first run of Mondays loss against Danville. - photo by EDDIE RUIZ / The Journal

The Turlock American 11-year-old All-Stars were knocked out of the Nor Cal Division II State tournament after playing back-to-back games at Soderquist Park on Sunday and Monday, getting outscored 15-2, including a shutout.

“We were fortunate in all our games, but both our opponents did well,” Turlock American head coach Steve Abrams said. “We finished as far as we could go.”

In the first game on Sunday against Woodcreek, the Turlock Americans failed to produce any runs as they were shutout 3-0. It was 1-0 in the top of the third when they missed the opportunity to tie the game after leaving Andy Owen stranded in scoring position at second.

Mental collapses led to costly errors in the bottom of the third after a pick-off attempt by the catcher to first base with two outs induced the runner to advance to third after a throwing error which brought in the second run. The third and final run for the Woodcreek All-Stars would come in the bottom of the fourth.

“Obviously, things didn’t work out the way we wanted it to, but it was a good fight,” Abrams said.

Monday’s game was lost in a 12-2 four inning mercy-rule victory after an impressive showing by the Danville All-Star squad.

“Danville was better than us today, that’s it. Everybody tried their hardest on our team, but they were better,” Abrams said.

The score was 6-0 going into the third inning, when the Turlock Americans finally produced some offense after a Jake Abrams RBI sacrifice brought in Owen to make it 6-1. Ryan Leonesio walked in the second and final run with bases loaded and two outs to cut the deficit to 6-2. With the tying run at the plate and bases loaded, the Danville pitcher was able to strikeout Josh Swanson to end the threat. This was the last snarl from the offense as Danville came back with six more runs the following two innings, and ended it in the fourth with two outs.

“Hats off to Danville. They played real well and we did our best and tried but just came up short. I enjoyed coaching these kids. [They're] a good bunch of kids; we're really proud of these kids, all of the coaches, we're very proud and fortunate we were able to coach them," Abrams said.