Stellar pitching buoyed by outstanding defense helped the Northgate minor Cardinals to a 3-0 win over the White Sox on Saturday on Bassi Field and gave the Cardinals the league championship.

 Tyler Looney pitched into the sixth inning for the White Sox before yielding to Jack Cunial to get the last out. The White Sox got runners to third in the first, second, third and fifth innings, but each time the Cardinals kept the White Sox from crossing the plate.

In the first inning with White Sox runners on second and third, Cardinals shortstop Luke Abrew fielded a grounder, tagged the base runner coming off of second and fired to first for an inning-ending double play. In the second with two out and a runner on third, Cardinals center fielder Grant Sonke chased down a long fly ball by Jayden Lopez for the third out.

 With White Sox runners at the corners in the third inning with no out, Looney took matters into his own hands by striking out the next three batters. Looney faced runners at the corners with two outs in the fifth and induced a groundout to end that threat.

 Looney allowed four hits and struck out five.

 Nolan Mix singled for the Cardinals in the first inning and scored when Jack Cunial’s single to center was misplayed. Cunial scored on a single by Abrew to make the score 2-0. Abrew singled to start the Cardinals fifth and came in on Doug Sheehan’s triple.

 Cunial and Abrew were each 2 for 2 with an RBI and a run.

 

Spreckels Park
Little League

Minors

White Sox 9, A’s 8

After the White Sox trailed by 7-1 early on, Cameron Diego (2 for 2) hit an infield single in the bottom of the fifth Saturday that scored Dominic Tolentino to cap a four-run inning for the White Sox and proved to be the winning run in the championship game.

 Zac Cook took the mound for the White Sox in the sixth and set the A’s down in order. Cook (3 for 3, two doubles, two runs), Logan Kirkham (2 for 2, double, run), Tolentino (3 for 3, run) and  J.T. Moniz all had hits for the White Sox in the fifth. Adrian Rios was 2 for 2 for the White Sox.

 The A’s scored five runs in the first inning behind a walk by Zac Stidham and Santino Flores getting hit by a pitch, a walk by Kai Ontai (triple, two RBI and two runs) and back-to-back singles by Niko Reitz and Kyle Bagely. Katelyn Bagely kept the A’s blitz going when she was hit by a pitch and was followed by Eric Carim with a walk, Jason Arnoldus with a single and Michael Gilmer with a walk. Ontai tripled in Bob Hunter and Santino in the second.

 

Juniors

Giants 4, A’s 3 (9 innings)

Giants 7, A’s 5

The Giants capped of a 20-1 season with a thrilling extra-inning win for the league championship over the A’s on Saturday, May 30.

 Down by one in the seventh, the Giants tied the game when Austin Cook led off the inning with a base hit, advanced to third on a groundout and scored the tying run off a sacrifice fly by Steven Eaves. In the bottom of the 9th, Austin Cook (2 for 3) walked and scored from first base on a walk-off base hit by Joel Gallo.

Jesse Ortiz-Martinez was 3 for 4 with a double for the Giants and Slyder Blythe was 3 for 4 with a double.

Rafael Diaz pitched five strong innings for the Giants in their 7-5 win over the A’s on Friday, May 29. Diaz went 2 for 2 with a walk.