Rocklin Juniors win Section 4 title, bow out in state tournament

The Rocklin Little League Junior All-Stars won the Section 4 championship on July 18 in Natomas, defeating Woodcreek 5-1 to cap an unbeaten tournament and advance to the NorCal State Championship in Millbrae. "We always have aspirations of going as deep as possible, but with all-stars you are always unsure of what you're up against. We thought we had a pretty good draw at districts, and we felt like we could. We felt like we could win it for sure," said Rocklin coach Pat Crossan. "We're really deep in pitching so it has helped set us up really well." Rocklin's pitching was the decisive factor this postseason, according to Crossan, who praised ace Andrew Hancock for throwing a no-hitter in the district tournament. His services weren't needed in the section tournament, as Rocklin won all three games while saving their best arm. Rocklin opened with a 2-1 victory over East Sacramento before rolling through Woodcreek 9-1 and into the championship game. "We scrimmaged Woodcreek earlier so we'd seen a lot of their pitching. We knew that was going to be a tough fight and I think our kids just rose to the challenge," said Crossan. "We knew that we had to put the bat on the ball in order to win." Rocklin did all of its damage in the fifth inning, scoring five runs to take a 5-0 lead. Dylan Amos opened the scoring with a two-RBI single while Bryce Butcherine, Nolan Crossan, and Zander Dowd each drew RBI walks to cushion the lead. Amos was also the starting pitcher and scattered seven hits in five shutout innings with three strikeouts. Andy Fisher pitched the final two innings and held Woodcreek to one run. The win sent Rocklin to the NorCal State Championship, where it opened with a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Dublin on Saturday but kept its season alive with a remarkable 11-10 come-from-behind victory over San Jose-Lincoln Glen on Monday. Rocklin trailed Lincoln Glen 10-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, but two runs in the sixth and five in the seventh sent the game to extra innings deadlocked at 10. "I told the guys going into the end of that game that for some of these guys, it could be their last little league game if we didn't pull it out," said Crossan. "I told them that we can go out like this, or we can try to put an effort together and make a push to tie it." Hancock kept the season alive in the seventh with a two-out, two-RBI single that tied the score. The man of the hour, however, was Brett Vandenburg, who gave Rocklin the win with a sacrifice fly. Amos pitched the eighth inning in relief and earned the win. Rocklin's season ended Tuesday night with a 10-0 loss to Dublin.