Ask most coaches and parents, and they’ll gladly scrap their annual summer destination travel plans if it meant their team would advance far in the postseason.
So it is for the Los Gatos Little League 12U All Star baseball team, whose riveting run finally came to an end in the NorCal Tournament in Chico. After winning the Section 5 Tournament on July 22, Los Gatos went 1-2 in NorCals, including a season-ending 8-6 loss to Mill Valley on July 27. Los Gatos opened NorCals with a 7-5 win over Amador East before falling to San Ramon Valley, 6-0.
It was an exhilarating ride for the team, which included a 6-5, extra-inning win over Los Altos in the Section 5 Tournament championship game on July 22 at Aptos Little League Field. The victory—a heart-pounding, white-knuckle contest that displayed Los Gatos’ resiliency—qualified it to NorCals.
To qualify for NorCals, Los Gatos had to come up clutch in the rubber match with Los Altos in Sectionals. Los Gatos was sitting pretty after winning its first three games—6-2 over Santa Teresa, 10-0 over Los Altos and 17-2 over tournament host Aptos—which landed it in the championship round.
That meant whoever came through the loser’s bracket had to beat Los Gatos twice to win the title. Well, it almost happened. The same Los Altos team that was beaten soundly came through the loser’s bracket and beat Los Gatos 7-1 on July 21 to force the winner-take-all contest the next day.
Unlike the first two games between the teams, the rubber match proved to be an instant classic. Los Gatos led 4-2 entering the top of the sixth inning, with an opportunity to close things out and punch its ticket to NorCals. However, Los Altos scored two runs and had the go-ahead run on first base with one out when its No. 3 hitter hit a deep flyball to center field.
That’s when Los Gatos center fielder Liam McDonald made a highlight-reel catch, going over the wall to rob the Los Altos batter of a home run. McDonald then relayed the ball back to infielder Daiden Christian, who threw it to first baseman Parsa Schmidt to complete the double play and get out of the inning.
“Liam’s catch was insane, just incredible,” Los Gatos manager Russ Laubach said. “I was talking to a friend the other day and we were just amazed that when both of his legs were off the ground, his whole glove arm disappeared. And he just brings back the baseball back to our side. Crazy.”
According to Laubach, the catch also drew rave reviews from the Los Altos manager, who in between innings made a quick visit to the Los Gatos dugout.
“The Los Altos coach/manager told Liam that his catch was the greatest catch he had ever seen in Little League,” Laubach said.
As exhilarating as McDonald’s catch was, Los Gatos was on the opposite end of the emotional spectrum moments later after failing to end the game in the bottom of the sixth, when it put runners on base with no outs. That forced extra innings, where the team up to bat automatically has a runner on second base to start the inning.
Los Altos scored a run and had a runner at second with two outs in the top of the seventh when Laubach summoned Christian—who had yet to pitch in the All Star season—to get the final out. Christian did just that, recording a strikeout.
“We hadn’t used Daiden yet, but we knew he was still a very good pitcher,” Laubach said. “He’s got a good off-speed pitch, so we knew we would be just fine.”
Los Gatos needed a run to extend the game or could win it outright, and it produced the latter. Eli Spiler, who was at second base to start the inning, advanced to third on a Andy Gwynn single. Kaden Khalipa followed with a sacrifice-fly RBI, tying the game at 5-5.
After Chase Bratten and Leo Fan drew walks to load the bases, McDonald came up to bat with a further opportunity to stamp his mark on the game. He promptly ripped a double to left-center field, igniting a wild celebration.
“That was a pretty cool way to end the tournament for sure,” Laubach said. “Pretty stressful, though.”
Los Gatos won despite being outhit 9-6. However, it made up for it by drawing nine walks, including two from Barrett Laubach, the manager’s son. Barrett had a spectacular tournament, hitting three home runs in five games, including a grand slam against Santa Teresa. He also started the final game with Los Altos and pitched four innings of one-run ball.
“Barrett is a little bit different,” Russ said. “He’s got that kind of it factor and has always loved baseball and been super into it. It’s been fun to watch him compete and get to do it with all of his friends.”
Barrett wasn’t the only one who went yard in the tournament. Schmidt hit two round-trippers and Spiler had one as the potent Los Gatos lineup came through again.
“Sometimes it feels like we need more plate discipline, but they’ve come a long way in that area,” Laubach said. “That’s really been a point of emphasis: having good at-bats, swinging at strikes, taking balls, drawing walks, and taking what the pitcher gives you. We want to make the other pitcher work and get their pitch count up.”
