In a game that featured 15 hits and 16 runs, the Los Banos 12-year-old All-Stars blanked Amador West 16-0 in a mercy-rule three-inning win on July 16.
In their first section tournament game at the Hoover Tyler Little League Park in Stockton, Los Banos scored in all three innings. Every player on the team had at least one hit.
Los Banos plated two runs in each of the first two innings and then exploded for 12 runs in the third inning.
Meanwhile, starting pitcher Colton Kocher blanked Amador West over the three innings, allowing just one runner to reach base, and striking out seven of the 10 batters he faced along the way.
Los Banos scored their two first-inning runs when Kocher doubled home Jaxon Mancebo and Danny Romero, who had each singled ahead of him, giving Los Banos a 2-0 lead.
Los Banos upped their lead to 4-0 in the second inning when Brodie Copeland drew a walk, Tevin Clay singled and Mancebo walked to load the bases. Copeland and Clay scored on an infield out off the bat of Fernando Cornejo.
Then in the clinching third inning, Los Banos sent 15 batters to the plate, with 12 of them scoring to complete the 16-0 whitewash of the Amador West All-star team.
Kocher opened the third inning with a double, and Nathaniel Rogers and Zayden Affonso-Stiers both drew walks to load the bases. Three straight hits by Reed Thiercof, Kellen Saucedo and Clay plated four runs for Los Banos.
With one out Cornejo and Romero each collected base hits and Kocher doubled them both home, making the score 12-0 in favor of Los Banos. Vincent Rodriguez then clubbed a two-run home run and a 14-0 lead for Los Banos.
Los Banos closed out the scoring when Affonso-Stiers and Thiercof both singled and Clay doubled them both home, which resulted in the 16-0 mercy-rule victory for Los Banos.
Pitching star Colton Kocher said after the game, “This game showed how well we can play, but we have to come out in our next game with the same mental attitude and play even harder than today.
“We watched the next team up ([De La Sunrise of Stockton] play their game today,” Kolcher said, “and they are a really good team.”
Los Banos advanced to play De La Sunrise All-stars on July 17, when they were shut out 2-0. They were scheduled to play next, in the double elimination tournament, on July 18.
