Games

July 6th in Antioch Antioch East 3, ALBANY 4  In the third inning, Tommy McCoy doubled to the wall and Miles McCreary singled him home with what proved to be the winning run. Ben Cerami tired in the sixth after pitching five strong innings.  In the sixth, East scored twice to close the score to 4-3. With runners on second and third, none out, the call went to the bull pen for Kellon McGuire, who came into a crisis and settled the peace. Strike out. Strike out. Ground out. Game over.		July 7th in Lafeyette Albany 4, Lafeyette 5  After leading 2-0 in the first and 4-0 in the fourth, Albany allowed the winning run to score in the last of the sixth on a passed ball.   Ben Cerami's titanic home run backed Lucas Caldwell's first inning single to begin scoring. Singles by Brian Bernard, Joe Riley, and Lucas cobbled together two more runs in the fourth.   After Lafeyette rallied to tie the score, Tommy McCoy put out the fire in relief, but Joe Riley's laser shot lead off single in the sixth was followed by three quiet outs and then, in the field, the decisive throw-and-catch misque . .
July 9th in Concord ALBANY 6, Concord American 5  Ben Cerami grand slammed Albany to a first inning lead, which increased to 5-0 in the fourth when Justine Maxwell tripled, then increased again  to 6-0 when Ben singled and scored in the fifth.  But Concord scored five runs off replacement pitching in the fifth before Ben entered in relief and stopped the bleeding. He came back to strike out the side in the sixth.  Kellon McGuire gave up no hits, no runs, and struck out six through four innings before he left the mound with a six run lead. July 12th in Concord Antioch West 2, ALBANY 8   Kellon McGuire and Coleman Lukas pitched three innings each and gave up only three hits. Back to back doubles by Kellon and Brian Bernard and a home run by Joe Riley vaulted Albany ahead 6-0 in the first inning. Cerami hit his fourth jack of the tournament. .		July 11th in Concord Clayton Valley 5, ALBANY 6  In 100 degree heat, Albany staged a Hollywood ending to its fourth straight one-run game.  To start, Clayton Valley dinked and piddled in three runs, but Lucas Caldwell led off for Albany with a double and Ben Cerami pole axed a massive, long distance home run. After Clayton Valley got another run in the second, Lucas doubled again to launch a go-ahead rally carried by rbi singles from Nike Dale, Coleman Lukas, and Joe Riley.  Two walks helped Clayton Valley tie again in the sixth, but a tiring Brian Bernard battled to contain the threat to one run.   Then Albany loaded the bases with none out. A pop up out and ground ball throw back to the plate for the force created two outs before Ben Cerami stepped up. First pitch, foul ball. Second pitch, ball. Third pitch, screaming line drive down the left field liine. Game over as Kellon McGuire stepped on home plate amid celebrating team mates.
. July 14th in Alameda Albany 2, South Oakland 3   In a pitcher's battle, the edge went to Oakland hitters.   Albany trailed 1-0 when Justin Maxwell legged out an infield single, stole second, then got company when Nick Dale worked a base of balls. Both advanced on a wild pitch, then Tommy McCoy smoked a line drive single to put Albany up 2-1 with two out.   But the offense evaporated and Oakland answered with two runs of its own to eliminate Albany 3-2 (with a 3-2 record in five one-run tournament games).		July 13th in Alameda ALBANY 11, Antioch East 6  This re-match had none of the tension game-one had when Antioch had the tieing and winning runs on base with none out in the last of the sixth.  This time, Albany scored 11of its 41 tournament runs with 13 hits. Lead off batter Lucas Caldwell hit two more doubles. Coleman Lukas, Shoma Murakawa, Justine Maxwell, and Nick Dale each had two hits. Miles McCreary had a sixth inning double and three rbis. Leib Sutcher

Batting

Pitching

2004 Little League All Star Team

California District 4 Champions

Section ONE Tournament

Friday July 16 in Larkspur

District 4  .. ALBANY 4
District 53 ... Vallejo   2

.

.Saturday July 17 in Larkspur

District 4 ...  ALBANY 11
District 1 .. Mill Valley  1

- Mark Arakaki singled to start the game, then singled again with one out to keep an eight-run first inning surge flowing. Relief pitcher Jake Alaniz (right) chucked three shut out inning to earn the win after right fielder Emerson Roberts-Donnelly pegged out a runner at third base to quell Mill Valley's only rally.

Sunday July 18 in Larkspur

District 38 ..  PETALUMA 10
District 4 ...............  Albany  3

- Mark Arakaki (right) led off  the 1st inning with a home run which tied the score, then Jamel Freeman scored from third after reaching on a two bagger he clothes lined off the left-center field fence. But, hit batters and bases-on-balls inflated Petaluma's three hits (including a grand slam homer) into seven runs in the second inning.

Tuesday July 20 in Larkspur
Albany eliminated..

Mill Valley  9
Albany ....... 2

- In the top of the first inning, with a lead off walk followed by another walk and a 250  foot home run over the center field fence, Mill Valley's first three batters scored enough runs to win the game.

11s Tournament Team

Back:Ben Cerami, Lieb Sutcher
Front: Kellon McGuire, Joe Riley, Coleman Lukas.

California District 4 Tournament

July 1 Oakley
 ALBANY 10, East County  0

July 7th Oakley
 Albany 2, LAFAYETTE 3

July 8 in Antioch
ALBANY 1, North Oakland 0
-- Kellen McGwire chucks a no-hitter! Base runner Leib Sutcher scores the only run.

July 9 Antioch  2nd loss; Albany eliminated.
Albany 2, Clayton Valley 4

Lafayette Field of Dreams
Tournament Champion

Front: Brian Bernard , Alex Jones Rear: Lucas Caldwell, Miles McCreary, Shoma Murakawa, Nick Dale.  Not pictured:
Players Jeremiah Kreisberg, Jesse Schumacher
Coaches: Paul Cerami, Brian Bernard, Eric Riley.

Scores

ALBANY 12 South Oakland 4

ALBANY 6 Lafayette 3

Albany 3 GRANADA 7

ALBANY 12 San Ramon 0

ALBANY 7 Granda 4

ALBANY 8 Lafayette 3

Home Runs

Ben Cerami 6, Lieb Sutcher 4

Kellon McGwire 3, Coleman Lukas 2

Lucas Caldwell 1, Shoma Murakawa 1

.

BLACK SOX DISTRICT 4 TOURNAMENT GAMES

	July 1st at 6 p.m. on South Field ConcordContinental 9 ALBANY   20  Connor Freeberg drove in seven runs with three hits, including  a grand slam homer.  Cole Goodman no-hit Concord for three innings.. July 7th in Alameda East County 3 ALBANY   8 Friday July 9th in Lafayette Winner Bracket semi final: ALBANY  6 Antioch West 4
Monday July 12 in Lafayette Winner Bracket final ALBANY 3 South Oakland 1 - After pitching no-hit ball into the fourth inning and singling home Nick Greco with Albany's first run, Cole Godman went to center field in the fifth inning and cut off Oakland's last threat by throwing out its fastest runner at home plate.	Wednesday July 14 in Lafayette Championship Game ALBANY 3 South Oakland 1 - Trailing 1-0, Jamel Freeman, Marco Santos, and Connor Freeberg led off the the 6th with singles to load the bases. With one out, David Shor hit a sacrifice fly out for Marco to score the tying run. Then Nick Greco singled home Connor and Chase Lee for the winning runs.
After 49 seasons, this was the first district championship won by an Albany Little League team. Only the 1996 team and the 2002.team reached the championshp game. Both arrived through the loser bracket. In 1996, Albany lost to Alameda. In 2002, Albany beat Antioch East in eight innings, 2-1, then lost the play off, 6-5. The 2004 team was the first to reach the championship game through the winners bracket.
California District 4 Champions -- Back: Duane Greco, Marco Santos, Nick Greco, Connor Freeberg, Kyle Kubler, Jamel Freeman, David Shor, Tim Goodman, Anthony Freeman. --Front: Jake Alaniz, Marco Santos, Mark Arakaki, Danny Jacobs,Emerson Roberts-Donnelly, Kai Huntamer, Cole Goodman, Chase Lee.

2003Little League All Stars

Back --Anthony Freeman (coach) Scott McFadin (manager) Rob Mullaney (coach)
Middle: Cole Goodman, Dylan Mattingly, Keith Moffatt, Jamel Freeman,
Tyler McFadin, Kumi (Nana) Yiadom, Geoff Mahley

Front: Philip Holub, Connor Freeburg, Rashad Alaiyan, Skyler Schain,
Matthew Peterson, Elliot Jardin, Will Mullaney

Games

Martinez 0
Albany    8

Note -- Matthew Peterson homered
and pitched six innings.

Albany  3
Alameda 11

Tuesday July 8th in Walnut Creek
Albany  3
South Oakland 4

Team Roster

Player Vote:

• Noam Kopmar (Athletics)
• Louis Worth (Braves)
• Andre Sternberg (Cardinals)
• Cole Stipovich (Cardinals)
• Matthew Ball (Giants)
• Douglas Fisch (Giants)
• Ryan Nelson (Pirates)
• Edward Izumizaki (White Sox)
• Stephen Pressnell (White Sox)

Coach's Selections:

• Michael Clement (Athletics)
• Kofi Yiodem (Athletics)
• Powel DeGange (Cardinals)
• David Present-Thomas (Cardinals)
• Carter Armstrng (Giants)
• John Paul Koehn (Giants)
• Alex Sinclair (Giants)
• Ian Stewert (Giants)

Coaches

STEPHEN DeGANGE, Tod Armstrong, Jim Stipovich

 Albany's pitcher, Cole Stipovich, gave up no hits and no runs with 11 strike outs. (Only one fair ball was put in play: a soft grounder hit to first base.)

 Matt Ball led off the 1^st inning with a single and scored, then led of the 2^nd inning with a triple and scored. Doug Fisch scored three runs on two singles and a walk. Noam Kopmar drove in three runs with a single and double.  -- D. Krone

 Batting second, J.P.Koehn homered with Matt Ball on base to start scoring in the first inning. Matt Ball homered in the 2^nd. Alex Sinclair hit a triple with the bases loaded in the fourth.

 Andre Sternberg pitched. In four innings, struck out six, walked one, allowed four hits and one earned run. -- D. Krone, reporter.

  Although charged with the loss, Cole Stipovich gave up only two hits and one walk in 4^1/3 innings while striking out seven. -- D. Krone, reporter.

Scoring started in first inning when Andre Sternberg homered with J.P. Koehn and Matt Ball on base. Doug Fisch tripled with bases loaded in the second.

 Sternberg pitched the shut out. -- D. Krone

Albany eliminated.  -- D. Krone, reporter.

Round Up

by Stephen DeGange

The District 4 All-Star Tournament was a bit unusual this year. Albany's Major League (11- & 12 -year-olds) finished with a record of 3-2, but four of the five games were cut short by the 10-run slaughter rule.

Albany opened at home with a too-easy 10-0 victory over Piedmont. Lead-off hitter Matt Ball set the stage by hitting the first pitch he saw sharply into left field for a single. By game's end, Ball, Doug Fisch, Noam Kopmar and Carter Armstrong each had two hits. Cole Stipovich dominated the opposition by pitching 4 innings of no-run, no-hit baseball while striking out 11. The game ended in the bottom of the 4th when Albany went up 10-0.

Game #2 in the Winner's bracket took place in Pittsburgh and Albany again "slaughtered" the opposition - East County - by the score of 13-3. In the bottom of the lst inning, Matt Ball lead off with a walk and J.P. Koehn homered over the left-center-field fence. In the 2nd inning, Ball hit a homer of his own over the same fence. While Albany pitcher Andre Sternberg limited East County to 4 hits and I earned run, Alex Sinclair supplied some additional offensive muscle with a bases loaded double in the 4th inning. The game ended in the 5th when Albany established a 10-run margin.

In the first two games, Albany scored a least one run in every inning.

Albany's romp through the Winner's bracket ended in Game #3 in Antioch. In spite of another stellar pitching performance by Cole Stipovich, Albany was trimmed 4 - 1 by the home team, Antioch East. Sternberg had two hits and scored the only run for Albany.

Game #4 saw Albany rebound with yet another convincing performance, this time an 11-0 victory over defending District 4 champion, Alameda, at their home field. Sternberg threw a one-hit shutout and struck the pivotal blow: a three-run home run in the lst inning. Batting in the 8th and 9th spots in the order, Doug Fisch and catcher Powell DeGange went a combined 4 for 4 and drove in five runs. Carter Armstrong contributed three more hits to the game which ended after Alameda failed to score in the top of the 4th.

Perhaps if a team lives by the slaughter rule, it is fated to die by it as well. In Game #5, Albany ran into a red-hot Antioch West team and succumbed, 10-0. Only Sternberg could manage a couple of hits against Antioch starter, Mike Evers. Again, the game ended in the bottom of the 4th.

All in all, it was another exciting run for the roses by the Albany Major League All-Stars. Last year, the team made it to the championship game of the District 4 tournament before losing to Alameda ... a team that went on to win the Northern California championship and come within two games of a trip to Williamsport, PA. and the Little League World Series.

Next year's squad has a strong nucleus to build on as this year's team featured six 11- year-olds, including starting shortstop Doug Fisch and second baseman Matt Ball.

Addendum: The two teams that beat Albany, Antioch East and Antioch West, eventually played each other for the District 4 championship. East beat West and advanced to the Section One Tournament in Benicia. It lost its first two games and was eliminated. Vacaville won the Section One Championship and moved on to the Northern California championship where it also was eliminated in two straight games. The Northern California championship was captured by Sunnyvalle who, as we went to press, had won its first 4 games in the Western U.S. Regional Tournament (held every year in San Bernadino). One more victory and Sunnyvalle would be on its way to Williamsport, PA. and the Little League World Series, where, as they say, "dreams come true."

1996 LITTLE LEAGUE ALL STARS

District 4 Runners Up

Top Row: Coach Allan Collister, Manager Dale Moore, (Stephen DeGange, absent).
Middle: David Klein, Brett Cohen, Cole Stipovich, Sam Marthinsen, Joey Seltzer, Quincy Moore, Jeremy Lebeau.

Front: Andrew Marshall, Andre Sternberg, Albert Kao, David Collister, James Assia, Jason Moore, Tom Carman, Chris Alfert.  (Absent: Jonah Schrogin, Sam Shonkoff)

---

Tournament Synopsis

 We beat Pittsburg National 8 – 1 to begin. Albert Kao pitched 4 innings of no-run, no-hit, no walks, 5 Ks baseball. It would have been four perfect innings save for an error by first baseman Jason Moore (our future 3-year starting shortstop at Berkeley High)!

 We then lost to Concord American 8 – 5. (David Collister and Moore each gave up 4 runs.) Then the victory parade through the losers’ bracket began

 We beat Rio Vista 5 – 0. Kao closed the game by pitching the sixth inning and striking out all three batters. Next it was an 11 – 6 win over Antioch West. Then a 1 – 0 win over Walnut Creek in which Albert Kao gave up 2 hits while striking out 11. The lone Albany run scored when 11-year-old Andre Sternberg tripled in James Assia. Next, a 4 –1 win over North Oakland. Then we clinched the Losers’ bracket with 5 – 0 win over Lafayette. Albert Kao pitched 4 more innings of shutout baseball, giving up 2 hits and striking out 6. James Assia hit a home run and drove in three runs and Andre Sternberg hit the first home run of his Little League career.

 Alas, then the final blow was struck by Alameda, 18 – 8, in a game started on the mound by James Assia. He gave up 4 runs in the top of the first which we matched in the bottom of the second. We brought in Stipovich to pitch the top of the 3rd and he gave up four straight singles and was replaced by Jason Moore. Jason got out of the third (3 of Cole’s runners scored) and then Jason gave up 3 of his own in the top of the fourth. Andre came in to pitch the top of the 5th and gave up 6 runs before he was lifted for Collister. We scored 4 in the bottom of the 5th and that’s how it ended. Stipovich, although he only pitched one-third of an inning, got the loss.

The clean-up hitter for Alameda that day was 1b Corey Dunlap (4-for-4 with 3 RBIs) who went on to a good career at Ensinal High School (and then Contra Costa College) and was drafted in June 2004 by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 3rd round and paid $450,000 to sign.

After they beat us for the District 4 pennant, Alameda went on to win Section 1, then  win Northern California , then play into the championship game of the Western Regional at San Bernadino, where it was eliminated.

-- Stephen DeGange

HITTING

Players         g ab r hits 2b 3b hr bb k rbi.avg
Chris Alfert    8 23 6  9    2       2  3  1 .391
James Assia     8 16 7  7    2    2  2  4  5 .438
Tom Cannan      3  6 0  2            0  1  3 .333
Brett Cohen     8  6 0  0            0  6  0 .000
David Collister 8 26 5  8    3       0  3  6 .308
Powell DeGange  1  1 0  1            0  0 0 1.000
Albert Kao      8 15 3  3       1    0 10  0 .200
David Klein     8  6 1  2            3  2  1 .333
Jeremy Lebeau   8 18 7  8       2    3  5  4 .444
Andrew Marshall 7  9 1  1            0  4  0 .111
Sam Marthinsen  3  3 1  1            0  2  0 .333
Jason Moore     8 23 5  8    2       3  5  5 .348
Quincy Moore    4  7 1  3            1  2  0 .429
Jonah Schrogin  4 13 5  6         1  2  1  5 .462
Joey Seltzer    4  1 0  0            0  0  0 .000
Sam Shonkoff    4  2 1  0            1  1  0 .000
Andre Sternberg 8 21 4  7    2  1 1  0  9  7 .333
Cole Stipovich  5  0 0  0            1  0  0 .000
Team Totals    8 19647 66   11  4 4 18 58 37 .337

   

Pitching

Players       G   IP Run ER  Hits BB SO W L E.R.A.
Chris Alfert  2   4   2  2    5   1  4       3.00
James Assia   3   8   4  4    9   4  6  2 0  3.00
Tom Carman    1   1   0  0    0   0  0       0.00
David Collister4 42/3  6  6    10  3  4  0 1  5.54
Albert Kao    5   16  1  1    6   2 26  3 0  0.38
 Jason Moore   5 102/3  9  7    16  5  7  1 0  3.94 
Andre Sternberg 1  2/3  6  6    4   1  2      53.73
Cole Stipovich 3  2   6  4    6   1  2  0 1 12.00
     Totals   8  47  34 30   56  17 57  6 2  3.83

1989 Little League All Stars

Front - Gabe Serpa, Burlin Germany, Danny Gross, Elan Beesen, Benj Meyers, Tatum Tapscott, David Kotyler.

STATS

Player		G ab hits 2b 3b hr runs rbi's .avg
Nisar Amin	4 11  3          1   5   4    .272
Andres Cediel	4  4  2              2        .500
Zack Chun	4  5  1                       .200
Danny Coen
Toby Diggs	4  9                 1   1    .000 
Kamau Edwards	4  8  2              2   2    .250
Asa Gifford	2  2                          .000
Todd Griffth	4 13  7   1          5   2    .538
Trigg Splenda	4 15  8              4        .533
Kweli Washington 4 16 7   1      1   3   9    .437
David Wonnenberg 4 6  1                       .167
Mohammed Mirzai	4 10  3          1   1   3    .300
Dylan Martin	4  8  4              3        .500

1977 Little League All Stars

Coaches Chris Caras (left) Gary Eggers (right).

Little League

1966 Little League All Stars

Roster: Matt Gray, Bruce Harvey, Terry Inserra, Bob Stovel and Rich Vila (Cardinals) John Brodie, David Diaz and Tom Drennan (Cubs) Jeff Arnold, Len Patterson and John Van Coops (Dodgers) Clark Daley and Allen Hoggartt (Pirates) Ken Segerberg (Braves).