RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Danville-based San Ramon Valley Little League on Thursday night won the Northern California regional tournament, the third of four tournaments a Bay Area youth baseball team must win to make it to the Little League World Series.
San Ramon Valley defeated a team from El Dorado Hills 12-2 in Chico on Thursday to win the NorCal tournament for children up to 12 years old. The team earlier won its Little League district championship, then won their section tournament in Castro Valley before winning the NorCal one.
Next up will be the West Region tournament in San Bernardino starting Aug. 9 as one of four teams vying to make it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The international tournament brings together some of the best youth baseball teams from countries around the world.
“Very happy because we put in so much work to get this far,” center fielder Isaac Hairston said. “It feels real at this point. We know how close we are to accomplishing our dream.”
The youngsters said they have what it takes to make history. They’re undefeated and plan to keep it that way.
“We’re very hard-working, we all love baseball, we all love playing with each other, and we just enjoy the game,” pitcher/catcher Mason Hall said. “We just go out there and play and we succeed.”
Assistant Coach Greg Isom was on the San Ramon Valley Little League team that made it all the way to the Little League World Series in 1991.
“It is an incredible feeling,” he said. “A lot of nostalgia here, a lot of positive memories, a lot of positive feelings, so super exciting to bring it back.”
While Isom’s team won the U.S. championship in Williamsport, they fell to China in the World Series championship game. Now it’s time for Isom’s son, Dane, to step up to the plate.
“It’s kind of cool because he took second place in the entire world,” Dane said. “I’m going to try to do something that he couldn’t do which was to take first place instead of second, so it’s really cool.”
San Ramon Valley Little League posted on social media that it is the first time since 1993 that a 12U team from their league won the NorCal title. Two other Bay Area teams from Mill Valley and Los Gatos also made it to this year’s NorCal tournament.
While the dream of every Little Leaguer is to make it to Williamsport on the East Coast, Little League’s Intermediate 50/70 World Series for the next age bracket of up to 13 year olds takes place annually a little closer to home in Livermore.
Two Bay Area teams will compete in this year’s tournament, Bollinger Canyon from San Ramon, which won its district championship to earn the host team berth, and Granada from Livermore, which defeated a Moorpark team from Southern California in the West Region championship in Arizona on Thursday.
The two will be among six teams from the U.S. and six international teams competing in the tournament at Max Baer Park in Livermore starting Sunday.
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