Nevada City’s 9-10 yr. old All Star team beat Grass Valley last night at Condon Park by a score of 16-6. Here’s the link that gives the tourney details: http://tournaments.active.com/tournament/consumer/fullSize.do?tournamentId=29847&from=news
Also, at Pioneer Park last night the Nevada City 11-12 yr. old All Stars (Majors) beat Grass Valley as well, by a score of 9-1, in an eerily similar bracket path. Here’s that link:
http://tournaments.active.com/tournament/consumer/fullSize.do?tournamentId=30373&from=news
Nevada City Majors and Minors champions move on to play the Tri-Cities and Lincoln champions of District 11, Area 1 tonight in a best 2-out-of-3 series. Here are those brackets:
http://tournaments.active.com/tournament/consumer/fullSize.do?tournamentId=29855&from=news
http://tournaments.active.com/tournament/consumer/fullSize.do?tournamentId=30375&from=news
—Michael Anderson
Filed under: Uncategorized
I was incorrect about these series being the best 2-out-of-3. Both the Major and the Minor Nevada City All Stars teams had a loss on Saturday, July 7th, to the Grass Valley All Stars, then came back to win their respective double-elimination tourneys by beating Grass Valley on Sunday. So, the Nevada City Major All Stars are the champions of District 11, Area 2, and the Nevada City Minor All Stars are also champions of District 11, Area 2.
What I didn’t understand is that both teams had to carry that Saturday loss into the playoffs w/ the District 11, Area 1 winners, which were the Major All Stars from Lincoln and the Minor All Stars from Tri-Cities. This meant that both Nevada City teams had to beat their opponents twice in a row in order to win all of District 11. The first games of both playoffs were last night at 7 pm, the Majors in Rocklin and the Minors in Lincoln.
Alas, it is with regret that I must report that both Nevada City teams lost last night, the Minors by a score of 13-1 and the Majors by a score of 13-2. Those scores belie two well-fought games against much bigger leagues and our boys can hold their heads high. This puts a bow on the synchronicity of these two wonderful and unprecedented teams, and a cap on the 2012 NCLL season.
See you next year…
Michael:
Appreciate the report. As you note, kind of strange that NC entered the finals with the handicap of being down 0-1 in games, but maybe there was some logical reason for structuring it that way? If you find out, please let us know.
Thanks.
Steve (and anyone else who’s interested), there is actually a good explanation but it took me a while over the weekend to figure it all out. This Little League stuff is very complicated (-:
If you work back in time from the Little League World Series that has been held in late August in Williamsport, PA since 1947 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_League_World_Series), you get to the Majors game that was played last night.
Here’s a list of all the tourneys that have taken place in District 11 over the past couple of weeks:
http://www.eteamz.com/cad11/news/index.cfm?cat=270633
You will notice that there is an All Stars category of “10-11 District All Stars – Areas 1 & 2.” This is a new category in 2012. What’s interesting about that category is that it combines Areas 1 & 2 in District 11. Take a look at the play so far in July here: http://www.eteamz.com/cad11/news/index.cfm?id=5437150&cat=270633
This bracket is still going strong. Unfortunately, our 10-11 Nevada City All Stars got knocked out w/ their second loss when they lost to Penn Valley on July 6th.
So it’s clear that these are District 11-wide double elimination tournaments. For the Minors and Majors, they are broken up into Area 1 and Area 2 tourneys, but they’re still double-elimination: 2 losses and you’re out. And as you can see, Tri-Cities is dominating, once again, in the 10-11 All Stars District 11 tournament.
One thing to note is that not all of the Little Leagues are created equal. Penn Valley Little League is relatively new, and they just upgraded their fields and installed new lights a couple years back. For those efforts they were rewarded the hosting of this years’ 10-11 All Stars tournament, a true honor. Not to mention the economic benefit of all those friends and family coming up to Penn Valley from the mid-Central Valley every day for 2 weeks to root on their players.
Most of the Little Leagues in Area 2 are relatively small, pulling from communities of about 5-10K (Nevada City, Grass Valley, Penn Valley, Colfax, N. Auburn). Tri-Cities Little League covers Roseville, Citrus Heights, and Rocklin, where over 250,000 people live. Do the math. I think that makes what our Nevada City All Stars accomplished all the more dazzling.
I know I’m going on and on here, but I think a lot of folks don’t know the history of Little League (or major league baseball for that matter) and understand how it has helped to shape our country. Steve, I’d love to read about some of the local Nevada County baseball stories going back to the Gold Rush, I’ll bet you have several of them. Here’s a little historical tidbit that’s pretty interesting: http://www.littleleague.org/learn/about/historyandmission/federal.htm
I’ll finish this off with the Little League Creed. At the beginning of every game during these All Star Tournaments, first the players and coaches are introduced down on the field, then everyone rises to sing the Star Spangled Banner, and then someone, usually a young person, reads the Little Little Creed:
“I TRUST IN GOD, I LOVE MY COUNTRY AND WILL RESPECT ITS LAWS, I WILL PLAY FAIR AND TRY STRIVE TO WIN BUT WIN OR LOSE I WILL ALWAYS DO MY BEST”
Go see one of the few remaining games being held in Penn Valley this week. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.
Steve,
Usually it is about the scheduling restrictions of not having to play more games than are necessary. Generally 2 hours per game would guarantee 4 hours of play and roughly 6 hours (two games) on the field (warm ups) with the possibility of a third game if the tournament started a new double elimination bracket. We also need to factor in Umpire costs and travel time/ costs for players/ families.
Congratulations to NC little league and Michael A for his dedication in coaching the youngsters. It takes a ton of time, dedication, and let’s not forget one of the biggies- Patience. Now go enjoy the river more that the season is over.
Good points, Ben. Thanks. I just wrote a long comment in reply to Steve that is now in moderation because I added a bunch of links, but I neglected to mention the time and costs which are significant.
My son, who was on the 9-10 NC team, hasn’t been able to go to the pool or the river since school got out. He’s down at Bridgeport today with his mom and brother and some friends visiting from out of town. And I’ll be down at Edwards Xing hopefully this weekend (upstream, not at Peggy’s Beach/Spring Creek;-)
Michael,
Being a fellow coach I have had to answer very similar questions over the years. I used to get into the details but most people just want to know the stuff that affects their schedules and kids.
I’ll be at the Malakoff site this weekend; probably will make it a full day at the river. Again, thanks for coaching. The value of our communities is increased tremendously by volunteerism, especially with its youth.
It’s always amazed me how Little League Corp. can run a world wide tournament in the time frame they do. It makes the CIF playoff system a joke.
I just got a Facebook notification with someone commenting on our badly weathered banner at Condon commemorating our 1990 team that went to the Big League (16-18 yr olds) World Series in Ft. Lauderdale. That was an amazing experience for our little cul-de-sac!
Michael,
Not to be picky but Tri-City LL is basically Del Oro area. I believe the Tri Cities are Newcastle, Penryn, and Loomis. It could include part of Rocklin. Roseville has two leagues; East & West divided by the freeway. Citrus Heights is in District 5.
But your point is valid. Leagues that are 10 fold larger. And, in every sport.
Chris, no need to apologize. I am new to all of this and still learning. It’s hard getting reliable info. when so much of it is anecdotal. Thanks for straightening me out on the Tri-Cities league.
Chris, thanks again for your comment. I did some more searching to understand all of the leagues in District 11 after you informed me that Tri-City LL is Newcastle, Penryn, and Loomis, with some Roseville and Rocklin mixed in. You obviously know the history here better than I do.
Lincoln and Tri-City have dominated District 11 for quite a while, but the numbers are only one factor. Upon reviewing their respective websites, it is clear that they have exemplary baseball programs. My hat is off to them: http://www.hometeamsonline.com/teams/default.asp?u=BIGPAULY1209&t=c&s=baseball&p=custom&pagename=FAQ
I completely agree with you that CIF and Little League Baseball are in different arenas of competence.
One thing I found out is that Nevada City and all the surrounding leagues used to be in District 54, which is now south of I-80 down to Placerville. But a new district had to be created in the 1990s once our area started to repopulate.
Lots of kids; lots of baseball. Such a fun game, and so closely aligned with life experience.
Speaking of “different arenas of competence,” all 4 of my boys have been involved with the local soccer league, with mixed results: http://www.goldcountrysoccer.org/
After two years of really bad placement with my now 10-yr.-old, we’re pretty much done with this league. The tryout process is completely broken for kids 8-12 and the league needs to get this fixed ASAP. Little League International has been doing this stuff since WWII; why not leverage their success and ask them for some help?
Placement is everything, folks. It’s how real life works. If it’s not a fair and open process, we are teaching our kids how to be corrupt.
Yes, District 54 was huge. I remember falling asleep in Geometry after having a twinight double header in Placerville. We got home at 2:00 AM. Also, I remember Nevada City & Grass Valley having to go to Placerville to play All-Stars.
IIRC, the soccer leagues and basketball leagues don’t really have any type of tryout. You can assemble your own team or they will assign one to you. Yes, you get huge range of skill level. When my oldest son played U14, all the games were blow outs. They either won by 10 or lost by 10. I think they had one 2-1 game in two years.
As far as Little League goes, I think each league can do whatever they want in terms of placing kids on teams. The best system I’ve heard of was my cousins league up in Mt. Shasta. The coaches didn’t have a team until the teams were picked. What they did was, they had tryouts. The coaches all got together and selected the six teams collaboratively. Then, the coaches drew out of a hat which team they were to coach. Since the coaches didn’t now at first which team they were going to get, it was in their best interest to make the teams as balanced as possible. No stacked teams.
This is mostly for Steve Cottrell and Chris Bishop, but other local baseball fans might find it interesting as well. Last week I described a July 5th 9-10 yr. old All Star playoff night game between Nevada City and Foresthills thusly:
“Then it was down to baseball. This was the first meeting of the last two undefeated 9-10 year old All Star teams in the tournament: Nevada City and Foresthill Divide (which includes kids from mid-Placer). Grass Valley eliminated Sierra Foothills (Colfax) in an earlier game last night [July 5] by a score of 6-2, and Penn Valley was done in when they lost their second game to Sierra Foothills on July third.
The game went six innings, with a back and forth of offense and defense that was truly remarkable to behold. Each team added a few runs in their half of the inning throughout the night in a see-saw match that had friends and parents from both sides cheering madly one minute and groaning loudly the next.
Nevada City went ahead 11-9 in the bottom of the fifth and then Foresthills jumped ahead 14-11 in the top of the sixth. It was do or die for Nevada City, and they did it!, tying the game at 14-14 by the end of the sixth. And then everyone went home…”
I went on to describe a situation whereby the lights are controlled automatically at Condon Park, with no possibility of manual over-ride. Apparently, Grass Valley Little League has a contract with the City of Grass Valley that requires them to honor the park’s 10 pm curfew. In this particular situation, the good folks from Foresthills had to drive all the way back to Grass Valley to play out that last inning at 5 pm on Friday, July 6th. As it turned out, the Foresthills team put 1 run on the board in the top of the 7th and then Nevada City delivered a walk-off with 2 runs in the bottom half.
Only rain or an act of war (and that war better be pretty darn close) should prevent a baseball game from being completed. Not some draconian computer sealed up in a box that decides when the lights go on and off. Furthermore, this is a safety issue. As the parents and players were leaving the ballpark, the lights went off and everyone had to stumble around in the pitch black trying to find their cars. Completely ridiculous.
I spoke with someone at the GV City Hall in the Parks Dept. yesterday (who shall remain nameless for the time being) and she didn’t have much sympathy. The curfew was the curfew and that’s all there is to it, she said.
“It’s like camping…lights out at 10 o’clock.”
Well no, baseball has nothing even remotely to do with camping. Chris, if you have any history to share about this Condon Park baseball curfew situation I’d like to hear it. I plan to write a letter to the Grass Valley Little League outlining the problem to find out if they are on board getting this fixed, and hopefully we can take it to the GV City Council and get an exemption in the contract for the 1-week-long All Stars Tournament that happens only once a summer.
Jeff, thanks for allowing me to close the loop on this thing.
I believe most parks have some type of curfew. I’m not familiar with any computer system shutting things down. What was the score, 16-15? This could have been avoided with better pitching!
Actually, the problem was with the defenses of both teams. After two solid weeks of nightly practices and 4 straight tournament games, the players were starting to get worn down. Routine outs suddenly became not-so-routine.
But you’re also correct that, due to pitch counts, both teams were not able to use their 2 top pitchers.
Regarding the park curfew, I think an exemption for the one week in summer when the All Stars are having their tournament is not an outrageous request. I sent a letter via email to some GVLL officials this morning and received a reply confirming that the GV Parks Dept. has no intention to budge on this issue despite previous efforts to make this change by the GVLL. The official also mentioned that there have been only two instances since GV has hosted these All Star tournaments when a game was adversely affected.
I think even 1 game is one time too many, especially when the fix is so easy. And again, having parents and players stumbling around in the pitch black looking for their cars is just plain silly.