June 25, 2007
Morada Tigers Take 2007 Minor A Championship
   The Morada Minor A Tigers went undefeated in the TOC's to claim the victory banner.  On Saturday at the quarter finals Morada faced a very talented and well-coached Hoover Tyler Team and claimed a victory 11-10 to advance to the championship game on Monday against the Brewers of Western. The game turned out to be a nail biter as the Brewers came out slugging; Morada found themselves down 6-7 in the bottom of the 6th.  With two outs lead-off batter Christian Hill singled up the middle.  Joey Traverso was walked to first and both runners advanced to third and second bases on a passed ball to Jake Jensen who was at the plate. With the tension so thick you could cut it with a steak knife, Jensen slammed one into center field scoring Hill and Traverso with Morada winning  8-7.   "The Brewers were a team to be reckoned with and the coaches, players, and fans were great competitors and sportsmen," said Morada Manager Greg Traverso.

Congratulations to the Morada Tigers
2007 Minor A Division TOC Champs!!

Morada Mariners Finish Off Perfect Season With TOC Championship
The Junior Morada Mariners went undefeated through regular season and undefeated in TOC's by out scoring there opponents 46-2 and sweeping the Tournament of Champions with the guidance of manager John Zeiter, coaches Ron Heinle, Jim Burke, Mike Hartung, and Joe Bailon and players, B.J. Bailon. Michael Benesch, Brendon Burke, Dilan DePauli-Wiltse, Thomas Flores, Ryan Heinle, Jacob Holley, Zach McCurdy, Paul Zeiter, and Christopher Ybarra-Knight. Dilan DePauli-Wiltse pitched a one hit shut out in the last game of the tournament against the Sunrise Orioles.  Ryan Heinle came in to close in seventh inning to get the win.  "The Sunrise Orioles were the best team we faced all year," said the coaches of the Mariners, "...hats off to them for a great game and good sportsmanship. The players and coaches would like to say thanks to all the friends and families and District 8 umpires for making the Tournament of Champions so much fun.

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Sunday, June 24, 2007
Sundown Little League Captures Major TOC's With Perfect Season
   Gutierrez, Lima, Galbraith, Johnson, C. Calder, Hinson, Troike, Flores, Townley, Robinson, Dixon and Z. Calder.  For the rest of their lives they will be able to tell the story of this 27-0 season.  Perfection.  It doesn't happen often and for most old-timers around the district, frankly we don't remember anything like it.  The Sundown Major Little League team came into the district TOC's with a perfect 22 - 0 record.  Expectations were certainly high for them.  They didn't disappoint - finishing the TOC's with a perfect record of 5 - 0 after finishing off a tough Morada team.
   The game started off fairly quiet when Donald Robinson's (Sundown) single was the only non-out event in the first inning.
   But it didn't take Sundown too long to get the offense going.  In the top of the second inning, after two outs, Anthony Hinson got on base on an error and Cameron Calderon then doubled to deep left center, moving Hinson to third base.  The next batter, Kyle Johnson, then drove in the first run of the game with a single.  Morada failed to score in the bottom half of the second inning, as Sundown pitcher Robinson struck out three batters.
   In the top half of the third inning, Sundown continued it's momentum.  After one out, Donald Robinson singled again.  The Giants clean-up hitter, Justin Townley, then strolled to the plate and hit a monster home-run to put the Sundown team up by a score of 3 - 0.  Robinson continued his excellent pitching in the bottom half of the inning - holding Morada scoreless again and striking out two more hitters in the inning.
   Sundown went a little quieter in the fourth, failing to score despite a single by Keaton Galbraith.  In Morada's bottom half of the inning the first batter gave Morada signs of hope when Joey Caffese blasted a solo home run.  Morada threatened again after placing runners on second and third base via an error and a walk, but once again Robinson came through when he struck out the last two batters of the inning to end the threat.  The score after four full innings:  Sundown 3, Morada 1.
   In the fifth inning, Jared Dixon singled to lead things off.  Dixon ended up on third base after a fielder's choice and an error.  Sundown then scored its fourth run of the game when Paul Flores knocked him in with a solid single to left field.  Morada was not about to give up.  (This resilient team was knocked into the loser's bracket after their first game and then proceeded to win their next 5 straight games before facing Sundown's goal of reaching perfection.)  In the bottom half of the fifth, with two out, Morada's Anthony Gonzalves homered to make the score 4 - 2, in favor of Sundown.
   Sundown failed to score in the top of the final inning, but they were three outs away from perfection.  Sundown was now forced to change pitchers due to the pitch count rule and in came a very cool Anthony Hinson.
   Morada's first batter grounded out to the pitcher.  Two outs from a dream.  Hinson induced the next batter into a harmless groundout to the third baseman.  One out away from District 8 immortality.  Ground ball to the first baseman.  Dixon fields it and steps on the bag.  Game over.  Ah, sweet perfection.  The numeric characters speak for themselves:  27 - 0.  No doubt, some day, when their children's children are playing on some Little League field in the future, the story of the 27 - 0 Sundown Giants will be told again.  Congratulations to the Sundown Giants!

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