Pleasanton American eliminates Petaluma Valley

Petaluma Valley Little League team’s strong Northern California tournament run ended Tuesday in Alameda, one game short of the Western Regional in San Bernardino.

Ryan Anderson hit a three-run homer in the first inning off Clay Hardy, and Pleasanton American went on to defeat Petaluma Valley, 4-1, in the tournament’s championship game.

Brian Hsu pitched a complete-game two-hitter for Pleasanton, striking out six.

“We got to this point with our offense, primarily,” said Rick Duarte, who coaches for Petaluma manager Chris Micco. “But today we were stopped. They flat-out beat us. Taylor Gomez pitched the middle innings and kept us in it, and we hit some balls hard, but right at people.”

Petaluma Valley finishes its season with a record of 13-3.

Petaluma scored its only run in the second inning, without the benefit of a hit, to make it 3-1.

Mitchell Wilhelmsen walked, Justin Toavs was hit in the face with a pitch (he had to be replaced by a pinch runner, but Duarte said he’ll be all right). The runners moved up on a groundout, and Wilhelmsen scored on Joe Henry’s groundout.

Pleasanton’s Hsu held Petaluma hitless until the fifth inning, when Henry singled.

Francis Christy got the other hit, a single in the sixth, and Petaluma brought the tying run to the plate before a popout ended it.

Pleasanton goes on to the regional tournament in San Bernardino and will open against Hawaii on Friday.