Thanks to Herb Dower for the latest edition of “The Dower Report” from Stockton, CA:
STOCKTON, CA (JULY 22-23)—Temperatures soared as high as 115 degreeshere over the weekend, and come Sunday, the Santa Rosa Fastpitch team was as hot as the weather. The Class C team captured the B-C Stockton Tournament with a 4-2 record by winning two games on the field, 8-2 over the West Coast Cardinals and 19-5 over the Lugnuts on Sunday before being awarded a forfeit win over a weather-weary A-1 Tank team, which had just battled eight innings to defeat Fat City, 5-3, after the regulation game had ended in a 1-1 tie.
A-1 Tank chose not to play another game in the scorching heat, so Santa Rosa went home with the championship. Santa Rosa, which earlier in the season won Class C Tournaments inFolsom and Fairfield, again rode the pitching of Jeff Want to the title. Want opened the tournament Saturday with a 4-2 over the River City Rockers, allowing only one hit in six innings in relief of starter Gary Dower. He then yielded three runs in the first inning to the Italian Athletic Club, which hung on for a 3-2 win in a game called after six innings because of the time limit. In the day’s third game against A-1 Tank, Want again relieved starter Gary Dower with the score tied at 2-2 and shut down the power-hitting A-1 team until the bottom of the seventh, when they struck with two outs and nobody on base to get three consecutive singles for a 3-2 win. Santa Rosa was unstoppable on Sunday, banging out 25 hits in two games and scoring in 10 consecutive innings to beat the Cardinals and Lugnuts, with Want getting the victory in both games. He finishedwith a 3-2 record with a 1.36 ERA.Catcher Brian Osborn, brothers Brian and Danny Macler, first baseman Alvaro Valladares, and Want led the team in hitting.Osborn, who came into the tourney hitting over .560, maintained hisaverage by going 8-for-14 (.571) with three doubles and a triple. Hereached base safely in 16 out of 19 trips to the plate. Brian Macler hit .467 with three home runs and a double for a 1.333 slugging percentage, and Danny Macler hit .462 with three home runsand two triples for a 1.462 slugging average. In the win over theLugnuts, he had two triples and a grand slam home run.Valladares continued his hot tournament hitting, too. After going 1-for-10 on Saturday, he went 6-for-8 on Sunday to finish at .389, while Want, a solid hitting pitcher, with a home run and five RBI.The wins raised Santa Rosa’s record to 31-14 with four of the losses coming in the Red Rock Tournament against Open-A teams, and two against Class B teams at Stockton.
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By Herb Dower