RIPON – Malik Taylor had the big bat for Ripon while teammate Damian Sandoval had a dominating performance on the hill to lead Ripon to an 11-1 win over Lodi in the championship game of the Cal Ripken Central California District 1 10u Tournament at Veteran’s Park in Ripon.

Taylor was 2 for 3 and had a three-run inside-the-park home run in a five-run fourth that helped Ripon break the game open. Sandoval gave up a run in the first inning and after that no Lodi base runner got past second base.

Before the game ended in the fifth on the mercy rule when Mason Knight knocked in Dylan Degraff (3 for 3, RBI), Sandoval struck out the side in the first and fifth innings and totaled nine strikeouts, allowing six hits and walking just one.

Elijah Shupperd – who had a two-RBI double in the first inning – led off the Ripon fifth and came in to score on Tyler Gahm’s single. Degraff’s single plated Gahm to put Ripon ahead by 10-1 and Knight’s RBI single of Degraff ended the game with a 10-run lead after five innings.

Anthony Sausedo had a two-RBI double for Ripon in that big fourth inning.

Prior to this tournament, Ripon participated in a tune-up tournament in Elk Grove and did not do very well. Ripon coach Eddie Chavez was pleased with his team’s progress since that tournament.

“It was a great win,” Chavez said. “We had a rough tournament up in Elk Grove so we had to fight from the bottom and work our way up. We gave up around 22 runs and made 16 errors. That was a wake-up call for us.

“And winning this one with four games in a row was unbelievable. It was a team effore all the way around.”