The Dower Report: (Thanks to Herb Dower for this information)
FOLSOM, CA–Santa Rosa Fastpitch held off late rallies by both Dry Creek and Elk Grove in Sunday’s final two games to win the rain-plagued Folsom Tournament’s Class C Division. Santa Rosa, which earlier this season won the Fairfield Tournament, again rode the pitching of Jeff Want to the title. Want won all three games on Sunday and went 4-1 overall with a 3.50 earned run average.
His lone loss was an 8-1 setback to Elk Grove in Saturday’s round-
robin portion of the tournament. In the championship game against Elk Grove, Santa Rosa erupted for seven runs in the second inning and added a run in the third to take an 8-1 lead. Tom Dower hit a three-run inside-the-park home run, and brothers Danny Macler and Brian Macler added two-run homers to spark the rally.
The hard-hitting Elk Grove team came back with four runs in the third, added two in the fourth, and tied the game at 8-8 in the bottom of the sixth. Santa Rosa got a break in the top of the seventh when a throwing error caused by the wet field put a runner on base, and with two outs, Santa Rosa’s big hitter, Alvaro Valladares, got his 10th hit of the tourney, a single up the middle, to drive in the winning run. Valladares was 10-for-19 (.526) with four triples and drove in eight runs.
Earlier Sunday, Santa Rosa defeated Blood Line of Nevada 10-4, thanks to a seven-run first inning, and then held off Dry Creek of Santa Rosa, 7-5, after seeing an early 7-1 lead evaporate. Dry Creek reliever Craig Maruffo hit the first batter he faced in third inning and then retired the final 10 batters in order. On Saturday, Santa Rosa came up with four runs in the seventh inning to defeat Bay Area Hi Reach, 6-3; beat Wally’s Bail Bonds of Santa Rosa, 13-5, thanks to an eight-run sixth inning; and then lost to Elk Grove, 8-1.
Elk Grove won Pool A with a 3-0 record, followed by Santa Rosa (2-1), Wally’s (1-2) and Bay Area (0-3).
Dry Creek took Pool B with a 2-1 record, followed by Fat City (2-1), Blood Line (2-1) and Country Club Villa (0-3).
In Sunday’s single-elimination round:
Santa Rosa def. Blood Line 10-4
Fat City def. Wally Bail Bonds on a last-inning home run.
Dry Creek def. Bay Area by forfeit.
Elk Grove def. Country Club Villa
Semifinals
Santa Rosa def. Dry Creek 7-5
Elk Grove. def. Fat City
Championship
Santa Rosa def. Elk Grove 9-8.
By Herb Dower