REDWOOD CITY — Joe Modesto’s home run and six solid innings from the mound were not enough for Spreckels Park Little League’s senior-division all-stars.
Union City knocked the Manteca-based club into the consolation bracket with a thrilling 3-2 victory in eight innings Monday at Sequoia High. Joe Armstrong led off the bottom of the eighth with walk, stole second and capitalized on a throwing error to plate the deciding run.
Spreckels Park will now have to get by District 14 champion Niles-Centerville tonight at 5:30 to have a rematch with Union City in the California Little League Section 3 Tournament championship round.
“It was a shame someone had to lose this game tonight,” Spreckels Park manager Greg Leland said. “It was a great Little League game. We would have obviously been in the driver’s seat if we won tonight, but now we have to do it the fun way and win three in a row on three straight nights.”
Spreckels Park ran into good pitching Monday and was held to three hits, but they came when needed in the back-and-forth affair.
Down by a run in the fourth, Dominic Alejandre drew a two-out walk, and pinch-runner Adrian Valencia got to third when Alex Arreola reached on an error. Brian McAllaster singled in the tying run.
An inning later, Modesto jacked his leadoff homer to left to knot the game back up at 2.
“We didn’t have many opportunities (to score) and couldn’t get any momentum going offensively,” Leland said. “We tried to run a bit, but they have a catcher that throws real well and he threw a couple of our guys out.”
Modesto gave up just one earned run and four hits in his six-inning start, striking out six. Losing pitcher Valencia logged the final two but will still be available for tonight’s consolation-bracket semifinal.
Rodrigo Contreras will get the starting nod on the mound, and Leland trusts his pitching depth against a dangerous Niles-Centerville team. Niles-Centerville dropped its opener 7-5 Saturday but has since blown out San Ramon 20-9 and edged out host Redwood City National, 8-6.
“Our pitching is lined up pretty well, and if we can win tomorrow we’ll have Johnny Waggy back for Wednesday and Joe Modesto on Thursday,” Leland said. “Right now we have to take it one game at a time and just survive as long as we can.”
— Jonamar Jacinto
