Porterville Little League Intermediates are state bound
Section 7 tournament begins Friday in San Jose
After coming up clutch to win the Section 7 championship, Porterville’s Intermediate (50/70) Little League All-star team is off to the Northern California Intermediate championship tournament in San Jose that begins Friday.
Playing at Quimby Oak Middle School on the corner of Stevens Lake and Mt. Isabel Drive, Porterville will face six other sections in the double elimination tournament hosted by Evergreen. No Porterville team has won more than one game in the tournament.
“You never know what you’re going to get, but you know it’s going to be good players at the state-tournament,” said Porterville manager Thad Reece. “So we’re going to have to be on our A-game.”
In their first game at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Porterville takes on the Section 6 champions, Tracy. Tracy beat Hoover Tyler, a team out of Stockton, 19-0 and only gave up one hit. Between starter Dylan Anderson and reliever Freddie Morales, the pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts in six innings.
Porterville beat Sunnyside of Fresno 5-4 on June 19 and then came from behind to defeat Sunnyside again 8-5 on June 20 for the Section 7 championship.
Errors were a factor in both games for Porterville.
“We made a few,” said Reece. “And when you make them in tournaments like these, they’re huge. But we made up for it with some unbelievable plays.”
Porterville’s resilience and ability to bounce back even when down was a big factor in the team winning the championship.
“We scrapped and clawed,” said Reece. In the championship win, Porterville got big plays out of outfielder Jaylen Oats and catcher Miguel Ruiz.
Oats’ play came from a deep shot off the wall that he collected in center field to throw the runner out at second base. Reece described the throw as a “rocket” and “perfect.”
But the biggest play came from Ruiz who prevented Sunnyside from gaining momentum with a double play after Sunnyside scored on a passed ball.
“They tried to send another one but Miguel [found the ball] and he dove on the guy [for the out],” said Reece. “And then as he was walking away, he had a double play on a passed ball which got us out of a huge mess.”
Sadly, Porterville will be without Ruiz who will be away on a family trip that was planned months ago. One player that may fill in his position is Richie Bailey. Bailey showed consistent improvement over multiple innings at a scrimmage at Strathmore High School against the school’s summer league team made up of 14-18-year-olds.
Getting the start on the mound will more than likely be Diego Dulay.
“He pitched outstanding in that first game for us and we only threw him 35 pitches so that way if we needed him to come back in that third game, he was able to come back,” said Reece. “But if he pitches that well [on Friday], we’ll probably let him go longer.”
Pitching is an area where Porterville doesn’t have to worry too much about since nearly every player on the team can pitch.
“We have a ton of pitching. If we need to go deep into a tournament, this team is ready for it,” said Reece. “We could put anybody out there and they’re all pretty good.”
Porterville’s batting lineup is also looking solid with the middle of the order hitting very well, especially in the championship game.
“When you get to the middle of our lineup, it’s just, we’ve got some really good pop,” said Reece. “We have Arrow Franco,
he hit a home run. Dominic Teran, he hit a home run. Jaylen Oats had a double and a triple. So those three guys right there in the middle of the lineup, they can do a lot with a bat.”
Reece added that Mark Culwell had three hits, while Cristian Sanchez puts the bat on the ball and Bailey is “really good.”
Porterville’s biggest strength is that they’re a well-balanced team.
“We’re really balanced,” said Reece. “We’re balanced with our pitching, we’re balanced with our defense. We’re balanced with our hitting, we’re balanced with our speed. So we’re very balanced. If all of those things come together, we’re a force [to be reckoned with].”
In the postseason where anything can happen, Reece sees his team doing well as long as they eliminate errors and any other mistakes.
“The biggest thing in baseball is the little things,” he said. “So if we can cut out the little mistakes, and we had a few of those in the [district] tournament, I think we could do well at state.”