Rocklin Wins 2nd Straight At Western Regionals

Less than a month ago the Rocklin Little League All-Stars junior division team waltzed through four straight games and capped off winning the District 11 level tournament championship by defeating Bear River at Condon Park.

Now, after also notching tournament wins at the sectional and Nor Cal Divisional levels, the Rocklin 13-14-year-olds are finding success in the Western Regional Tournament being contested at Aliso Viejo in southern California.

The Rocklin Juniors are now 2-0 in Western Regional Little League pool play after beating Vancouver, Washington Wednesday, 10-0. Their overall record now in All-Star play is an impressive 15-1.

The win over Washington followed an opening 11-1 victory on Tuesday over Saint Helens, Oregon.

In the win over Washington, Carson Wittwer led the way with his arm and his bat. Wittwer pitched all 5 innings (game shortened due to mercy rule), allowing only 2 hits while striking out 5 Washington batters.

 Wittwer and J.R. Robinson each hit 3-run home runs to lead the offense. Tanner McVey and Wittwer had 2 hits each in the victory.

After a 1-2-3 top of the first, Rocklin started the bottom of the first when Zac Green walked and scored on a Tanner McVey RBI double, After a fly out, Michael Blattel walked to put runners on first and second with 1 out for Wittwer. He hammered a 3-1 pitch over the left field fence to give Rocklin a 4-0 lead. Rocklin added a run in the 2nd inning on a Blattel ground out.

Wittwer held the Washington batters off balance and scoreless, mixing in a curve ball with a potent fastball. Both Washington batters to reach first base on singles were gunned down trying to steal by catcher J.R. Robinson, one in the 2nd inning, the other in the 5th.

Leading 5-0, Rocklin began the bottom of the 5th inning with a walk, followed by a double to the left-center fence by Gordy Gordon. After a strikeout, Wittwer walked load the bases. Grady Allin came in to score on a wild pitch that put runners on 2nd and 3rd.

 Robinson then crushed a 2-2 fastball to dead center field that cleared the 300-foot fence giving Rocklin a 9-0 advantage. Hayden Hall, Brandon Billings, and Dillon Buban followed with consecutive singles to load the bases for Green. Green then smacked a hard ground ball that the

Washington shortstop could not handle to end the game at 10-0.

Rocklin gets a much deserved day off on Thursday and then will face Butte, Montana on Friday before meeting Tijeras Creek of Santa Margherita, the Southern California representative on Sunday to complete pool play.

Rocklin needs to finish in the top two teams of Pool B to advance to Monday and Tuesday’s elimination semi-final and final round.