Morada headed to NorCal playoffs
The Morada Little League Majors squad is back and a year older. On Wednesday, the squad completed a victory over Turlock American to win its sectional tournament after coming up through the losers bracket.
The team now heads to Alameda for the Northern California championships, starting Saturday in the Bay Area.
“This group, the last two years they’ve gone to state championships in their age bracket,” said Jason Leggitt, one of the coaches on the team. “They’ve gotten older now, and this is the first year they can go to the Little League World Series.”
Morada, the representatives of the District 8 Little League, which covers the Stockton area, started the tournament with Saturday’s 16-6 win over Amador, the District 15 representative. On Sunday, Turlock American bounced Morada from the top bracket with a 7-6 win.
Morada bounced back with Monday’s 16-7 win over District 67 representative Northgate, setting up a rematch with Turlock American for the championship — though Morada needed to win twice.
On Tuesday, Morada reeled off 13 runs to beat Turlock 13-2, with home runs by Nathan Brookins, Sean Kennedy, Blake Molen and Nathan Sherbondy, then repeated the feat on Wednesday with 15 runs to take the double-elimination tournament.
Morada opens Northern California play at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Chico Central.
Morada’s roster, made up of players from Lodi, Woodbridge, Acampo and Morada, consists of Robert Bird, Brookins, Brady Carvalho, Jaysean Darankane, Kennedy, Luke Leggitt, Molen, Christopher Nino, William Palacios, Anthony Joseph Salvetti, Sherbondy, Christopher Williams and Matthew Oliver. Manager Dave Nino is joined by coaches Jason Leggitt and Steve Sherbondy.
Lodi BOBS 9s catch first loss
In Cal Ripken action in West Valley City, Utah, the Lodi 9s dropped their first game in three, 4-3, to Rohnert Park Blue on Thursday. Lodi managed three hits, with singles by Tanner Grove, Noah Hufford and Eric Munoz.
With the pool play portion of the tournament over, it is now single elimination.