Maidu Major All-Stars win Section 4 championship

The Maidu Little League Major All-Stars made it to the state championship game a season ago before being eliminated. They'll get their chance to win the tournament again this year after winning the Section 4 All-Star Tournament on Tuesday with a 12-0 victory over Fair Oaks Orangevale. Maidu was clearly the strongest team in the tournament, winning all three games and outscoring their opponents 24-0. After barely getting by Fair Oaks Orangevale 1-0 in their first game July 11, Maidu came with their bats ready Tuesday, as they totaled 10 hits. Maidu scored five runs in the first inning and never looked back. "We've got a special group," Maidu Manager Justin Bovolick said. "We just came out and played. The boys rose to the challenge. We put it on them to make a statement and to make sure they knew where they stand here and I think they did that. I'm really proud of the boys. They really wanted to come out and put a period on this tournament." With one out in the first inning, Knox Needles walked and three straight singles by Sawyer Bovolick, Raymond Escobar and Dominic Passifione brought Needles in and the bases remained loaded - but not for long. On a one-ball, one-strike count, Lucas Jacob lifted a long fly ball over the fence in right-center field for a grand slam, putting Maidu in front 5-0. "It felt really good," Jacob said. "Off the bat, it kind of felt like it was going over the fence. I was really happy after it did." Mike Passifione, the team's first base coach, predicted Jacob would get a big hit. "Coach Pass called it," Bovolick said. "He said before the game that Lucas was going to lead it tonight and he did it in the first inning. That was pretty cool." Maidu scored one run in the second inning to keep the pressure on Fair Oaks Orangevale. Connor Carlile singled to lead off and Carter McIlnay came up with a two-out double to score Carlile. While the offense was rolling, so was Maidu starting pitcher Jaxon Cruz, who pitched a one-hitter and walked one while 10 of Fair Oaks Orangevale's 12 outs came on strikeouts by Cruz. "Jaxon is an incredible kid," Bovolick said. "He's new to our squad this year. We almost started him Friday, but we didn't. It obviously worked out tonight. Jaxon works extremely hard, and we're super lucky and blessed to have him." Said Jacob, "Jaxon's pitching tonight was insanely good. I think he did amazing with all the strikeouts. He was great." Maidu added five more runs in the third inning. Sawyer Bovolick walked to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Escobar's single. Preston Ortega singled in a run before another run came on and an error on a ball hit by Luke Wittig. Carlile doubled in the team's 10th run before the 11th run scored on an error on a ball hit by Keith Abicht. Knox Needles singled in the top of the fourth and scored the team's final run on an error. Carlile, who hits deep in the lineup, had a big game with two hits, a run and a RBI. "Talk about a guy finally punching his ticket," Bovolick said. "Connor's been struggling and been pressing a little bit, but he works his butt off. I'm not surprised he had two hits tonight. He's an incredible hitter." In their third straight deep playoff run, Maidu's experience gained over the years is helping them. "Our experience is everything," Bovolick said. "We come into these games super calm. The boys are battle tested. The opponent wants to rattle your cage and we're not going to let people do that to us." Bovolick is looking forward to the state tournament, which begins Saturday in Petaluma. "Last year, we finished late and we didn't have all of our pitchers available to us, but this year we're fortunate that we will have a full deck of pitchers," Bovolick said. Added Jacob, "The strength of our team is our communication, our team bond and everyone can hit and field. There's nothing this team can't do. I feel like this team is great and that we can make it all the way and win state."