District 11 Major All-Star tourney

Kicks off tonight at Pioneer Park

The District 11 Little League major division All-Star tournament for Area II leagues kicks off tonight with a doubleheader at Pioneer Park in Nevada City.

The major division All-Star tournament – for players ages 11-12 – is the first phase of post season play which culminates at the Little League World Series in Williamsport Pa. next month.

Locally, six teams will vie in the Area II tourney at Pioneer. Play continues in the double elimination tournament through July 11 or July 12 where the Area II survivor will then open a District 11 championship series against the Area I winner.

The District 11 champion will then advance to Section 4 play and participate as the host team for the sectional which begins on July 17 at Tri-City Little League Park in Rocklin.

However, first things first.

In Area II play, the six-team field looks like a wide-open affair as several entries are expected to field strong teams.

Tonight at 5 p.m., Bear River and Penn Valley, two squads that figure to be in the thick of the Area II battle, will collide to get the tournament rolling.

On paper both teams look to be loaded with good pitching and strong hitting.

Bear River, coached by James Toft and Mike Sypnicki, is coming off a strong Tournament of Champions showing where Toft’s Bear River Giants put together a run, which took the team all the way to the District 11 finals.

Four players from the Giants – Justin Brown, Kyle Vandervort, Nickolas Medenwald and Josh Toft – are on the Bear River roster and figure to play key roles in the south Nevada County squad’s attack.

Other players to watch for Bear River include Jake Sypnicki, who played the regular season for the Cubs, and Red Sox teammates John Burgess, Andrew Reiss and Robert Bristol.

Penn Valley’s two TOC entries – the Cardinals and White Sox – also showed moments of excellence in the post season and will hope to carry that over to All-Star play.

Rich Benevento is coaching Penn Valley and at his disposal from his regular season Cardinals team are Jared Cook, Ben Blair and Joe Benevento.

Other key players for Penn Valley include shortstop-pitcher Kyle Cota and versatile Roland Pussich from the White Sox and outstanding hurler Dusty Zeisler from the Giants.

In tonight’s second game, Sierra Foothills from the Colfax area will take on Newcastle at 7:30 p.m. For Newcastle, it will be the new league’s first venture into All-Stars at the major division level.

Sierra Foothills, coached by Ron Fowler, will have four players from the Giants who advanced to the TOC Area II finals on its roster.

Included are Roger Lillie, Brett Fowler, Michael Lerner and Matt Paskey. Other key players to watch for the SFLL team include Ryan Glazner, Taylor Dorsey, David Campbell and Devon Loomis.

Both Nevada City and Grass Valley’s All-Stars drew first round byes in the major division tourney.

Nevada City will jump into action on Friday night against the Penn Valley-Bear River winner at 7:30 p.m. That game will follow the 5 p.m. contest, which will pit Grass Valley squaring off with the Sierra Foothills-Newcastle victor.

Two consolation bracket games will be played on Saturday at 5 p.m. and 7:30. After a break in action on Sunday, the winner’s bracket semi-finals are slated for Monday, July 9 at 5 p.m.