Sports briefs: Twin Cities looking for Little League pennant sweep
The Little League District 3 championship matchups for Sunday are set, with Twin Cities looking for a sweep at all three age groups. Twin Cities will face Mill Valley in the 12U and age 9-10 championships, while the Twin Cities 11s face Novato North for the title. All three games are scheduled to be played at Joe Wagner Field in Larkspur.
The Twin Cities All-Star 12s are rolling on an 8-0 streak in the playoffs heading into Sunday’s championship against Mill Valley (7-1).
Twin Cities scored five runs in the first inning and rode the momentum to a 8-2 victory over Ross Valley (4-4) in a Saturday semifinal matinee. Chase Coghlan hit a two-run single in the first, and Miles Durbin, Escher Lee, Henry Tripp, Brady Crane and Thomas Velasquez each added a hit. Jesse Wheeler led Ross Valley with a pair of hits.
Levi Weber’s RBI-single in the fifth inning gave the Mill Valley 12U squad a 3-2 victory over San Francisco American (5-3) in Saturday’s other semifinal at Joe Wagner Field.
• The Twin Cities 11s shut out Novato South, 5-0, on Saturday to push their tournament record to 8-0 heading into the championship. Twin Cities starter Danny Searle earned the win with four hits, five strikeouts and a walk across 4.2 innings. Brady Stone threw 1.1 innings of no-hit relief work.
Novato South starter Axel Johnson threw solid four innings of one-hit ball, surrendering two runs, only one earned, while ringing up three strikeouts. AJ Hill, Luke Labozzetta, Henry Lynch and Johnson each had a hit.
Novato North (7-1) upset the home team from Mill Valley, 2-1, with a walk-off RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh in the other semifinal at Boyle Park.
• The Twin Cities 9-10s All-Stars held off Novato South, 2-1, behind an effective outing from starter Leo Ellenzweig to remain undefeated (8-0) in tournament play. Mill Valley (7-1) enjoyed a 6-2 victory over Novato North (6-2) in the other semifinal after jumping out to an early lead.
Baseball
Rookie Aki Buckson homered twice and the Pacifics cleared the fences four times as San Rafael overpowered the guest Dublin Leprechauns 8-3 on Friday evening. John Bicos and Jakob Bouhuys also homered for the Pacifics (25-12). Buckson also doubled twice to bring in three RBIs for the Pacifics. Starter Jake Dent tallied eight strikeouts while giving up two runs, nine hits and a walk across 6.1 innings.
Prep football
Marin Catholic tight end Braiden Bachich-Dixon announced Saturday through social media that he has committed to play for San Jose State University after graduating high school. Bachich-Dixon led the Wildcats last season in average receiving yards (56.9 yards per game) and receiving touchdowns (12). Bachich-Dixon begins his senior campaign with the Wildcats on Aug. 31 with the season opener at home against Inderkum.