2008 Postseason and Tournament recaps

WDV Bronco WhaDeVers fall to regional champs

The section champion WDV WhaDeVers drew a tough opening round opponent losing to eventual region champion Blossom Valley.  Facing elimination, WDV won the next 3 games vs. San Jose PAL, San Jose Pacific and Bel Passi of Stockton to reach semi-finals where they lost to a tough Vacaville team 6-2.

The West Diablo Valley team is a blend of Orinda and Moraga players.
Representing OBA: Drew Anderson, Logan Boersma, Henry Cassriel, Tyler Kirchberg, Conner Nyman, Lance Pieper, Andrew Rosenzweig and Clay Smudsky.

Representing MBA: Ryan Hoffman, Philip Rei, Hunter Rosenbaum, Scott Singh and Kurt Vergera.

Orinda Shows Well in Mustang Regional Tournament

Orinda's Mustang Spartans had a successful stint at the regional tournament held in San Jose. Orinda opened with the North region's runner up -- Stockton. Stockton jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after 2 innings. Orinda would rally in the bottom of the 3rd. Sam Conklin got things started by drawing a lead off walk. After another 2 walks and 2 outs, Andrew Deaver delivered a clutch 2 run single to get Orinda on the board. Ryan Anderson followed with a deep double to left center to plate an additional 2 runs and tie the score at 4. Stockton was able to scratch a run across in the top of the 5th to lead 5-4 heading to the home half. Reid Gibbs lead off with an infield single. To read the exciting conclusion to this game, click here....

WDV BRONCO ALL STAR TEAM WINS PONY SECTIONAL

The West Diablo Valley (WDV) "WhaDeVers" Bronco-level All Star team, comprised of 11 and 12-year-old players from OBA and the Moraga Baseball Association (MBA), is off to a red hot start in PONY sanction play.  This past Sunday (July 13), they won the Vacaville PONY Sectional Tournament by beating El Cerrito Blue, 12-2.   More available here...

mustang ALL STAR TEAM WINS sectional tournament

The Orinda Spartans Mustang All Star team, managed by Jim Stehr and coached by Dan Deaver, won the sanction play Sectional Tournament in Vacaville last night (July 15), with an inspiring win over Vacaville, 11-5.  To get to the Championship Game, the Spartans had already played Vacaville twice before, losing the first game 15-0, then rebounding in the second game for an 11-1 victory.  In between those two games, Orinda beat a good Martinez team, 10-7, thus setting up the showdown with Vacaville for the Championship.  Early in the tournament, the Spartans knocked off Pleasanton, 10-4, and Moraga, 15-2.   More details here...

The team now moves on to Regional play in San Jose this coming weekend.  Congratulations to the Spartans on a gritty performance throughout the tournament.           

Pinto All Stars swipe hardware from Fremont

Pinto Allstars Edge Newark American in the Finals!

The #2 seeded OBA Pinto Allstars came from behind to beat the #1 seeded Newark American team and win the FNYB 4th of July Tournament. Read the full tournament recap here...

the postseason is simply thrilling!

Pinto: Orinda A's Crowned Pinto Champs!

On Saturday, the Orinda Bombers, managed by Jim Pinto, beat the Orinda A's, managed by Steve Cassriel, 13-12 to force a decisive Championship, "Winner-take-all-the-postgame-snacks" game.  In the finale on Sunday, the A's came out on top 14-8 to take the Pinto crown.  Congratulations to both teams for an exciting, well-played championship series! Pinto Playoff Bracket: FINAL

Mustang: Rebels take out Warriors in dramatic style

In front of a packed house of 150 fans at Wagner field, the Rebels outlasted the Warriors 19-12 in the final game of the Mustang playoffs. Down 8-0 after the first inning, the Warriors stormed back tying the game 8-8 in the bottom of the first. From there, the game was a proverbial slug fest in the 90+ degree heat. In the end, the Rebels offensive firepower combined with timely pitching and defense proved too much for the Warriors. A great playoff season indeed! Final Mustang Playoff Bracket

Bronco: Blue flames storm through loser's bracket to take bronco crown

Details to follow... Final Bronco Playoff Bracket

PONY: ORINDA PADRES WIN PONY DV NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP

Today (Sunday, June 8) the Orinda Padres Pony-level OBA team won the Diablo Valley National League Championship for the first time since Jeff Pick began managing OBA's Pony program eight years ago.  The Padres went 23-5 during the regular season, the best record in the DVNL, and thus secured the #1 seed going into the Championship.  After a week long playoff series, San Ramon emerged as the #2 seed.  In the best-of-three Championship series, Orinda took the first game Saturday in San Ramon, 12-8. Then in the second game, held in Orinda on Sunday afternoon, the Padres clinched the Championship with a 6-4 victory.

OBA wishes to extend its congratulations on this historic achievement to Jeff Pick and the other coaches, Robert "Flip" Filipas and Jake Holt.  Jeff and his staff have made the OBA Pony program the envy of our "competitor" communities, and there is no question that it is one of the preeminent programs in Northern California if not beyond.

OBA would also like to extend its congratulations to the players: Ross Anderson, Matt Bonomo, Mark Branagh, Connor Bruen, Taylor Cohan, Matt Duncan, Rhett Gibbs, Michael Greenfield, Drew Jackson, Spencer Marx, John Palmer, Micah Spalding, and Kyle Weikert.  The 14-year old players on this team concluded their formal OBA careers (excluding Colt play) with this game.  What a way to go out! 

One other historical note:  we are consulting with Elias, but Drew Jackson may be the only player in OBA history to have won a championship in each one of our four divisions!  Wow! It doesn't get any better than that.

The Diablo Valley Pony Baseball League is a Pony Division interlock baseball league covering all of Contra Costa County and Northern Alameda County.  In 2008, there were 29 teams representing 16 cities in Solano, Contra Costa, and Alameda Counties.

Tournament Results - 6.19-6.22

Mustang 9u Team

Under 100 degrees skies, the 9 and Under All Stars had a double-header on June 20th at the beautiful "Buckeye Field" in Lafayette.  This was the 1st annual Lamorinda 9 and Under mini tournament that ended in success for all three teams, OBA-Titans, Moraga Baseball Association and the Lafayette Baseball Association All Stars.

In our 1st game against LBA we had strong contributions from all 12 players on defense, pitching and hitting.    Our strongest suit was our timely hitting throughout the game, but we eventually succumbed to Lafayette in 5 innings.  A hard fought exciting game that changed leads several times.

In the 2nd game vs. MBA we continued to have strong hitting and play but eventually yielded in 6 innings to a pesky Moraga team.

This coming weekend is our only official tournament being played as our 18 days season ends June 29th.  Team Titan will be traveling up to Rohnert Park and will face seven other 9 and Under All Star Teams from Northern California.  This one and done tournament will end our short season with every Titan player getting experience in All star competition, while enjoying the excitement and teamwork.

Mustang A Team

The Orinda Spartans enjoyed a successful run in the Pleasant Hill tournament. Orinda got off to a strong start, handily defeating Pleasant Hill and Pittsburg in their first two pool games. The Spartans faced a tougher test in their final pool game, Walnut Creek. Walnut Creek has a very solid program and they are fundamentally strong. Orinda jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to see Walnut Creek battle back to take a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the 6th. In dramatic fashion, Orinda rallied back to tie and, eventually, win the game with 2 outs for a thrilling 8-7 victory. The win secured Orinda a first round bye in the playoff round. As it turned out, the Spartans again faced Walnut Creek in the semi final. This time, Walnut Creek prevailed in a slugfest to advance to the championship game. Even with the loss, the Spartans could hold their heads high with their effort and overall tournament performance.

Mustang B Team

     The Orinda Titans surprised everyone but themselves with their solid performance in this weekend's Pleasant Hill Tournament.

     The Titans, who are classified as a B team, were one of 14 teams in this year's annual Pleasant Hill affair.  Each team was guaranteed a minimum of three games, with the top six teams earning the right to move on to championship play on Sunday.  After the Titans lost their opener, 17-14, on Thursday evening against the very tough Pleasant Hill Hawks traveling team, it looked like the Titans might need to settle for playing their final two guaranteed games on Saturday afternoon and evening.  But the Titans had very different ideas.

     In their first game on Saturday, the Titans pounded an overmatched Piedmont squad by the score of 16-3.  In the night cap, the Titans imposed an almost equally dominating thubbing on a solid Pleasanton squad.  The final score in that one was 12-2.  Both games ended after only four innings as a result of the "slaughter rule."

     With a 2-1 record after their first three games, the Titans had some anxious moments as they waited for the tournament officials to calculate the tie breakers to determine whether the young Orinda squad would be entitled to move on.  Given that the first tie breaker is runs allowed, the Titan coaching staff worried aloud about the 17 runs the squad permitted in the tournament opener.  But because they limited their last two opponents to just five runs, the Titans beat out one of the four other 2-1 teams to earn the sixth seed and the right to face off against the Pleasant Hill 9's on Sunday morning.

     Sunday's game was one for the ages with the Titans playing their best game of the weekend, despite the fact that they only managed three hits in the contest.  The problem was the Pleasant Hill southpaw pitcher was outstanding (tossing a complete game), and the defense behind him was almost equally as strong.  The Pleasant Hill 9 year olds played flawlessly in the field, making all nine plays they were required to make.  The Pleasant Hill pitcher struck out nine batters during his six innings of work.

     Peter Martin started Sunday's game for the Titans and he was spectacular.  After allowing back to back walks to open the game, Martin settled down from there, allowing just one run in that inning on one hit.  The run scored on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt.  In all, Martin pitched a total of three and two thirds innings, allowing only three total hits (two on bunts) and three total walks.  Although a second run scored against Martin, it was unearned.  Martin too had nine total strikeouts.

     The only three Titan hits on Sunday came off the bats of Garrett Johnson (line drive single in the second), Will McConnell (lead off single in the fifth) and Martin (single in the fifth).  Despite the two hits in the fifth inning, the Titans were unable to score, largely as a result of the Pleasant Hill catcher throwing a bullet to second to gun down McConnell on a steal attempt.  The best defensive play of the game came in the bottom of the fourth inning with Zach Wong in to relieve Martin.  With runners on second and third and two outs, the runner on third broke for home.  Wong alertly stepped off the mound and ran at the runner, just as he was taught.  When the runner broke back toward third, Wong threw to third baseman Jackson Braitberg, who delivered a strike to catcher Will McConnell who somehow held on to the ball and applied the tag for the out. 

     Pleasant Hill scored its final run on a towering fifth inning homerun to round out the final score at 3-0.  Despite the loss, the Titans and their coaches were thrilled with the team's efforts.  Clearly they did not lose this game; the Pleasant Hill 9 year olds simply won it.

     In their opener against the Pleasant Hill Hawks traveling team (which ended up earning the number two seed in the tournament), the Titans battled to the bitter end but ended up falling just short in the 17-14 loss.  The most remarkable thing about this game was that all 11 Titans in the line-up  that night knocked out at least one hit a piece.  Garrett Johnson and Connor Jackson were both 3 for 3.  Lead off hitter Clark Jordan reached base all four times he came up (one hit and three walks) as did Justin Joss (one hit, one walk and one hit by pitch).  Connor Jackson had three RBI's; Zach Wong and Coleman Fine each had two RBI's.

     Down by nine runs entering the final inning, the Titans nearly pulled off one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of OBA baseball history.  With one out and nobody on base, Garrett Johnson got things started with a double.  After Zach Wong walked, Tommy Hensley drove in the first run with a single followed by a two run double by Jackson.  After Paige Miller singled, Coleman Fine and Justin Joss followed with RBI singles to pull the Titans to within three runs.  When Clark Jordan and Will McConnell both walked, the bags were loaded for the number three and four hitters in the line-up.  The crowd was in a frenzy.

     On a 3-1 count, Sam Conklin hit a line drive down the third base line that looked for a moment like it might tie the game.  But the ball was foul by a matter of inches, giving rise to a huge "ugh" among the Titan faithful.  The rally ended there and the Hawks breathed a heavy sigh of relief, in recognition of having dodged a gigantic bullet. 

     On Saturday afternoon against the Piedmont All Stars, the Titans looked like they were out for revenge.  After pounding out 16 hits on Thursday, the Titans knocked out eight more against Piedmont, which coupled with their 13 walks, resulted in 16 runs.  Will McConnell and Justin Joss each had two hits a piece.  McConnell had three RBI's and Joss had two.  Once again, lead off hitter Clark Jordan was on base all three times he came to bat (one hit and two walks).

     Coleman Fine started against Piedmont and he was dominating.  Fine pitched three total innings, allowing just one run on four hits and only one walk.  He struck out five.  Connor Jackson closed this one, pitching the final inning and striking out two in the process.

     On Saturday night, the Titans scored in double digits for the third straight game (12 runs).  They amassed eight total hits, including two by team leader Sam Conklin.  Remarkably, lead off hitter Clark Jordan again reached base in both of his at-bats (single and a walk).  Conklin led the team in this one with two RBI's.  Jordan and Conklin both scored twice.

     The pitching honors against Pleasanton went to Zach Wong, who started and pitched three strong innings.  Wong limited Pleasanton to just one run on one hit and two walks.  He struck out four.  Peter Martin pitched the fourth and final inning, allowing just one run while striking out one.

     All in all it was a fantastic warm up for the Titans, who begin sanction play on July 7.  That leaves two weeks to prepare for the big dance.  Don't miss the action.

The Orinda Outlaws (Bronco 11s) went 1 and 2, beating a tough San Ramon team 9-3 on Saturday morning, but losing to Pleasant Hill 3 Friday evening and then to the WDV 12s Saturday afternoon.

The Pony 14s WDV team coached by Joe Cushing of MBA, took second, losing 8-2 in the Championship Game to the Walnut Creek Bulldawgs.  OBA representatives are Matt Bonomo, Matt Duncan, Rhett Gibbs, Spencer Marx, John Palmer, and Kyle Weikert.

Memorial Day Tournament results

Mustang:

The Orinda Spartans had an extremely succesful Memorial Day tournament in Citrus Heights. The Spartans opened play against Piedmont. The first 3 innings was a pitchers duel with Piedmont leading 2-1heading into the bottom of the 4th. Orinda than began to get their bats going as they plated 5 runs in the 4th and 5th innings to win 6-2. Later that afternoon Orinda tackled Tara Hills. This was also a well played, tightly contested game. Orinda clung to a 4-3 lead through 3 innings before Tara Hills scratched across a couple of late runs to edge the Spartans 6-4.
Sunday morning Orinda faced San Ramon. In a truly great baseball game, Orinda prevailed 3-2. Lots of great pitching, timely hitting, aggressive base running and solid defense keyed the victory. With the win, the Spartans clinched second place in their pool and a spot in the playoffs Monday. Again, Orinda had to face Tara Hills. This time Tara Hills jumped out to an early lead that Orinda couldn't overcome. Tara Hill s prev ailed in the 4 inning affair to eliminate the Spartans. Every member of the Spartans contributed to the team's success over the weekend both on and off the baseball field.

The Orinda Titans 10U Mustang tournament team enjoyed a thoroughly
successful weekend in Citrus Heights over the Memorial Day weekend,
despite winning only one of the three games they played.  Of particular
note is the fact that all 12 players on this team pitched over the
course of the three games played and all 12 players had at least one hit
and one RBI.  Ten of the 12 players scored a run.

In their first game, the Titans lost a slugfest to a highly regarded
Pleasant Hill Hawks 10 year old team, 15-11.  The Titans held leads of
5-3 and 7-6 in this one, but couldn't hold on for the victory in the
end.  In their second game, the Titans jumped out to an early 3-0 lead,
but staggered in the later innings, falling 12-5 to a well disciplined
College Glen squad.  In their final contest of the tournament, the
Titans put all aspects of their game together and "slaughtered" Rodeo by
a 15-5 score.

Bronco:

Congratulations to our Orinda Rebels 12-year old Bronco Memorial Day Tournament team which went undefeated and won the Citrus Heights tournament this past weekend, defeating a tough Rocklin team 5-3 in the Championship Game. Details to follow in our upcoming issue of OBA Today.
Congratulations as well to all of our Memorial Day tournament teams. Full reports will be included in OBA Today.

Palms sweating. Shortness of breath. Adrenaline pumping. And that's just from the parents! Yes, it's post-season OBA baseball! Playoffs are the best time to see how your player has been developing throughout the year. Check out the updating playoff charts to the right.

Also once each division has declared a championship team, OBA features Tournament and All Star teams which pits the best Orinda players in each division against other teams in the Bay Area. Is my child an All Star? Read about the team selection process.