STOCKTON – Josue Valle knocked in three runs for the Lathrop Spartans and helped lead his team to a 5-1 consolation win over Manteca White in the District 67 Juniors Tournament of Champions at Paul Weston Park.
Valle had the big hit of the night in the fifth inning. With Lathrop leading 3-0 and the bases loaded with no out, Valle hit a towering shot to the center-field fence, plating Jasper Tover (two runs) and Seth Dunn (RBI) for a 5-1 lead.
In the first inning, A.J. Duenez (2 for 4, run) and Tover reached on back-to-back one out singles. Duenez came in on an infield single by Dunn and Valle scored on a sacrifice fly by Valle. Lathrop’s Shawn Blea reached on an error and scored on an error in the second inning for a 3-0 lead. Chatin Sadhra had a double for the Spartans in the seventh inning.
Wyatt DeFrenchi got Manteca on the board in the fourth inning. He walked to start the frame, stole second took third on a wild pitch and came home on Ezra Alvarado’s groundout to make the score 3-1.
Duenez started on the hill for the Spartans and pitched a complete-game gem, allowing just two hits while striking out 11.
Lathrop continues in the tournament on Wednesday at 8 p.m. in a consolation contest and the loss ended the tournament for Manteca.
Patterson Tigers 15, Weston Ranch Braves 5
The Tigers took full advantage of six Braves error and rolled to the consolation win.
The error bug bit Patterson in the bottom of the second and led to three Braves runs. Trailing 6-0 with one out, Noel Hernandez reached on an error and stole second. He came home on an error off the bat of Jordan Paris.
Paris eventually scored on another error, and after walking, Joaquin Andrade stole second, took third on an error and came home on a passed ball to make the score 6-3.
Trailing 14-4 in the bottom of the sixth and facing an early exit due to the 10-run mercy rule, Paris – who when hitting out of the No. 9 hole reached base in all three at-bats on two errors and a single – reached on a two-base error, advanced to third on Andrade’s groundout and came home on a passed ball to make the score 14-5 and extend the game into the seventh.
Andrade walked three times and scored once, and teammate Josh Ordner walked twice and scored once.
Patterson advances in the consolation bracket and will play Wednesday at 5 p.m. and the loss eliminated Weston Ranch from the tournament.
