It’s that time of year again—the local Little League teams have started out on the road to Williamsport, Pa., home of the Little League World Series. On Saturday, June 21, the Santa Clara Westside 12U All Stars opened up the round robin pool play with a home game against the annually tough Los Altos All Stars. While Westside would end up on the losing end of a 2-0 score, the pitching and defense displayed in the opener suggest another deep run in the District-44 bracket could be on the horizon for Westside’s 12U crew.
Colton Brossman started on the mound for Westside and did a masterful job limiting the damage to just a pair of runs. Ultimately, it was only the pitch count that got Brossman out of the game relatively early. With strict pitch count rules in Little League, Westside Manager Jim Kramer took the ball from Brossman at 55 pitches.
Starting catcher Joshua Baluyot took over on the slab with two outs in the top of the third inning and added to his already impressive performance. In the first inning, Baluyot gunned down a would-be base stealer with a perfect throw to shortstop Jackson Beals, who applied the tag. On the pitcher’s rubber, Baluyot continued mowing down Los Altos batters, shutting them out in his two and a third innings.
“He’s a stud, he’s headed out to go play in a couple more games tonight with his travel ball team,” remarked Kramer on Baluyot. “I had him all year, he was my champion on the mound, he is also humble. He will never tell you that he is good. He is the best player that Westside has to offer, pitching-wise, he is in the mid-to-high 60s and he hit about seven or eight home runs this year and they were no doubters. He will never brag and he will never boast. He is the most confident and polite player I have ever coached.”
Baluyot wasn’t the only Westside catcher to shine in this one. Arguably, the top highlight of the day for either team was the unorthodox double play that was capped off by a lunging tag from Gavin Kramer at home plate. With a runner at second, a sacrifice bunt was fielded by pitcher Mason Santos, who had to come off the mound a good distance to field the ball and then throw the batter out at first. While doing so, the runner at second rounded third and tried to score. First baseman Kayden Tran didn’t hesitate, caught the ball, and immediately threw home, a perfect strike to Kramer, for the ever-so-common 1-3-2 double play.
“I was gonna crash [for the bunt] but then I saw three guys on it, so I just stayed at my base to get the out,” recalled Tran. “Then I saw the guy running, and I had the ball when he was just rounding third, so I threw home.”
“That was fun to watch,” beamed Beals on seeing his infield teammates turn such an impressive double play. “Something that doesn’t happen often, kind of sad I wasn’t a part of it. The awareness was key there. In practice, we have been working about head up after you get an out, there are still runners. That’s what Kayden did, had his head up and knew there was a runner rounding third.”
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