Maidu wins to make it to championship round

The Maidu Major All-Stars showed some resiliency Wednesday night, battling for a 6-3 win over Aptos in the losers' bracket of the Little League Northern California State Tournament to advance to the championship game. Maidu earned a second shot at Alpine Little League of Menlo Park on Thursday night. Maidu lost to Alpine on Tuesday, 4-3 in seven innings. Maidu needs to beat Alpine twice to win the state tournament and advance to the West Regional in San Bernardino. Maidu utilized the long ball to jump on top of Alpine and then scored three runs in the fifth inning to put away the game. Maidu's Knox Needles led off the game with a home run and in the top of the second inning, teammate Preston Ortega homered, as Maidu took a 2-0 lead. "The boys came out swinging tonight after a few changes in the lineup," Maidu Manager Justin Bovolick said. "First pitch, home run. Ortega going yard was great to see; he's such a hard worker." Aptos scored a run in the bottom of the second off Maidu starter Dominic Passifione, but Maidu took a 3-1 lead in the fourth. Carter McIlnay led off with a walk and moved to second on a passed ball before advancing to third on Sawyer Bovolick's groundout. McIlnay then scored on Raymond Escobar's groundout. Aptos tied the score in the bottom of the inning on a two-run double. Tough as nails, Maidu came right back in the top of the fifth to score three runs. After Ortega flied out, Jaxon Cruz and Passifione hit back-to-back singles. Keith Abicht, who has come alive the longer the all-star tournament has gone on, then singled in Cruz to put Maidu in front. Luke Wittig was out on the dropped third strike, but Passifione scored on an error by Aptos' first baseman. Connor Carlile was then safe at first on a dropped third strike and when the ball got away from the catcher, Abicht scored to make the score 6-3. Wittig replaced Passifione on the mound in the fifth and after the first batter reached on an error, Wittig retired the next six batters, striking out two, to end the game. The final line on Passifione was four innings pitched, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits and three walks, while striking out three. Passifione also had two hits. "Passifione gave us exactly what we needed on the mound and he had two hits," Bovolick said. "He's such a gamer." The team is excited to be in the championship round. "We did a great job responding to our loss, but we still have not played a complete game," Bovolick said. "If we do that in all three facets, we can beat anybody." Bovolick said he wasn't worried about possibly playing an extra game. "We have the pitching to finish this thing," he said. "We have been prepping for this run since 2023. Pitching and hitting are premiums and we have them both all the way through the team."