San Ramon Little League Reaches California Division II Tournament Finals

From Darren Funkhouser

San Ramon Little League used the momentum of a 10-0 victory over Lakeside Little League on Wednesday night to overpower River Park Little League, 9-1, on Thursday night to earn the right to play for Little League Baseball’s California Division II All-Star Tournament title. 

SRLL starting pitcher Nick Sherman gave up a single run in the first inning, before settling down to earn the win.  San Ramon countered with two runs in the bottom of the first, highlighted by back-to-back doubles by Robbie Funkhouser and Sam York, to take the lead 2-1.

SRLL’s bats remained alive in the bottom of the second inning as Matt Jew slashed a lead-off double and came around to score on Ryan Cole’s home run over the left field fence to increase SRLL’s lead to 4-1 after two innings.

With the score 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth inning, SRLL looked for the knock out hit and got it from Funkhouser as he ripped a grand slam home run over the left field fence, which extended SRLL’s lead to 9-1. Patrick Polcar, the fifth SRLL pitcher, then pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the sixth inning to send SRLL into the tournament finals.

SRLL now has the task of taking on undefeated Petaluma National Little League. The first final game is on Friday at 5 pm with a ‘what if’ game on Saturday at noon.

SRLL will need to win two games vs. Petaluma to capture the California Division II Crown and move on to Little League’s Western Region All-Star Tournament in San Bernardino.

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