The Sunnyvale Little League Intermediate All Stars have been rocking and rolling through their early summer tournaments. After winning District-44 and Section-5, the Sunnyvale baseball team, consisting of a dozen soon-to-be eighth graders, currently finds itself in the Northern California city of Rocklin for the NorCal State tournament.
While the Sunnyvale squad dropped its opener of the tournament by a lopsided 14-1 score, the team rebounded with wins against Arden Little League by a 13-6 final, and Olivehurst Linda Little League by a 13-2 tally. Sunnyvale then battled its way into the championship round, defeating Bollinger Canyon Little League 4-2 on July 9 to set up a revenge matchup with the team’s opening round opponents, Mark West Little League.
The Voice caught up with Sunnyvale players and Head Coach Albert Tang to get their thoughts on the summer thus far and the confidence level moving forward.
“It’s been really fun this far,” chimed Nolan Hagen. “It’s my first year in the league and in my old league I never got to make it this far or do anything like this. So, it’s been a really fun summer.”
“It’s been fun, this is my first time winning district and section,” added Hudson Lopez. “We’re just trying to take it game by game.”
“One game at a time, one game at a time,” echoed Shota Sakuma when asked about the team’s confidence level when it comes to winning the whole tournament. “But yes, we are confident.”
“The vibe is going great, our confidence level is high, we’re happy to be here,” beamed leadoff hitter Charlie Torbenson. “It’s cool to see the different talent levels from different areas of California in this tournament.”
“This summer has been really fun because this group, we’ve been playing together for a while, most of us have been together since we were 10,” remarked Alex Yim. “It’s really nice to spend summers with these guys playing baseball.”
“I think it’s really cool to play with your friends all summer,” chimed Trevor Uyehara. “And really fun to play against a lot of good baseball teams.”
“It’s been really fun going through districts, sections and now Norcal, with a big opportunity to win today,” noted Russell Tang. “We are pretty confident we can make a pretty deep run, but we are just focusing on today and keep playing.”
The Sunnyvale Intermediate All Stars roster is rounded out by Liam Carvalho, Cash Dumesnil, Brendan McElwee, Brandon Purugganan and Colton Sun.
“We have been pitching really well the last two games, a lot of good team defense, but we have been focusing on hitting, a lot of time hitting,” noted Manager Albert Tang. “It’s been great seeing the kids bond, they hang out a lot, on off days, they are at the pool, movie theater or walking around the mall together, soaking in that NorCal atmosphere.”
The boys needed to beat Mark West Little League twice to advance to the Western Region Tournament in Nogales, Ariz. Unfortunately, the team lost to Mark West on Thursday, ending the team’s summer run.
