Rocklin Little League’s Junior all-stars claimed the Section 4 baseball championship and are now playing in the Division II tournament in San Jose.

Rocklin opened the DII tournament by topping Olivehurst 12-7 Saturday as they jumped out to an 8-0 lead and held on for the win. Michael Blattel pitched three shutout innings while he and teammates Zach Green, Tanner McVey, Gordy Gordon, Carson Wittwer, JR Robinson, Dillon Buban and Drake Richie combined for 14 hits.

Rocklin then beat Benicia 6-3 Sunday after jumping out to a 6-0 lead. Gordon pitched six innings and gave up just two hits while Wittwer pitched a scoreless seventh inning.

The Juniors played Tracy Tuesday in San Jose and the winner of that game will play in the championship game today. The DII champion will advance to the Western Regionals in Southern California.

Rocklin’s roster also includes Grady Allin, Brandon Billings, Austin Dick, Hayden Hall and Sean Kinsella. Eric Hall manages the team while Jesse Green and Steve Johndreau are the coaches.

Rocklin scored 57 runs and gave up just six in three games in route to its Section 4 championship. The all-stars beat West Sacramento, Fair Oaks and El Dorado Hills all by the 10-run mercy rule.

Blattel highlighted the offensive show as he belted three homers, including a grand slam. Green and Gordon also homered in the championship game against El Dorado. Green, Blattel, Robinson, Buban, McVey, Dick and Allin each batted over .500 for the tournament.

Gordon allowed no hits in five innings against West Sacramento and Hall struck out two of the three batters he faced in the sixth inning. Wittwer gave up just one hit in Rocklin’s 16-2 victory over Fair Oaks while Gordon gave up two hits in five innings against El Dorado. Robinson pitched the final inning against El Dorado.

Rocklin advanced to the section tournament by claiming the District 11 championship. Pitchers Gordon, Wittwer, Blattel, Robinson and Dick gave up a total of five runs in four games. Green, Blattel, Robinson and Hall led a Rocklin offense that combined to score 36 runs. Rocklin beat Bear River 6-1 to claim the title.

Majors

Rocklin’s all stars had their season close Monday night as Woodcreek topped Rocklin 10-0 to claim the Section 4 championship at Tahoe Tallac in Sacramento.

Woodcreek pitcher Alex Montes pitched all six innings allowing just two hits while striking out 12. Garrett Van Roekel and Danny Walker had the hits for Rocklin.

Montes was also the pitcher when Woodcreek beat Rocklin 6-1 Friday. Facing elimination, Rocklin then won a game Saturday and followed that up with a 3-2 victory over Woodcreek Sunday. This set the stage for Monday’s championship game.

“He (Montes) dominated us for two games,” Rocklin manager Tim Adams said. “I thought we were prepared but he just threw a great game and we just didn’t have an answer for him (on Monday). He’s a big lefthander, throws hard and has a really good breaking ball.”

Woodcreek advances to the Northern California tournament, which opens up today in Alameda. The following round after that is the Western Regionals in San Bernardino.

“We set a goal that we wanted to be in the Western Regionals and get a shot to go to the Little League World Series (in Pennsylvania),” Adams said. “And we are all disappointed because no Rocklin team had ever gone that far. Every year (this group of all stars) has played one more game in this section tournament. We just didn’t get over that hump. We wanted to get to that level, we felt we had the talent but it’s just hard. Woodcreek is a great program.”

It’s been Woodcreek that has ended the season for this group of Rocklin all-stars three years in a row.

“We had never beaten them (in those three years) so Sunday’s victory was pretty good for us,” Adams said. “We kind of answered that.”

Rocklin’s Jack Wittwer pitched Sunday and he struck out 10 batters in six innings.

“Jack just threw a great game and kept their hitters off balance,” Adams said.

Christian Bennett roped a 2-run double to put Rocklin up 3-1 in the fourth inning.

Jake Faulkner went 3-3 in the win with two doubles and a single. Both were among Rocklin’s offensive leaders throughout the section tournament.

Joining those previously mentioned on Rocklin’s roster were Blake Abercrombie, Chandler Roselli, Griffin Harrell, Nick Adams, PJ Floyd, Spencer Laine, Taylour Reidt and Ty Medd.

“It truly was a team effort, we had kids from the top to the bottom of that lineup who we could interchange so easily because they were all so talented,” Adams said. “We had different kids contributing every night.”

Rocklin beat Carmichael (4-2) and East Sacramento (11-1) to open section-tournament play. Reidt had a key double and Faulkner had a clutch homer in the victory over Carmichael.

Seniors

Rocklin had its all-star season end July 17 with a 9-4 loss to Eastern of Carmichael.

Eastern, which primarily features a roster of players that attend Jesuit High, also beat Rocklin 8-4 the day before in route to the Section 4 championship at American River College.

Rocklin led 1-0 in the final game but Eastern led 7-1 after three innings and cruised to the victory. Chris Streeter had a RBI double for Rocklin in the loss.

“It was a young team and I think they exceeded expectations,” said Rocklin manager Barry Moller, whose squad beat Eastern 12-11 earlier in the tournament. “Since we were the youngest team all these players will be returning next year but one (Drew Leach).”

The age range of the Senior division is 15-16. The rest of Rocklin’s roster consisted of Scott Moller, Anthony Salazar, Trevor McVey, Ty Kennedy, Corey Besmer, Brian Hosang, Derek Neff, Cody Michael, Teddy Quittmeyer, Jay Donovan, Taylor Ashby and Austin Miller. Steven Moller and Dan Besmer were the coaches.

McVey, Hosang and Streeter were Rocklin’s leading pitchers throughout the tournament while Moller, McVey, Salazar, Kennedy, Streeter, Besmer and Hosang led the offense.

Besmer also provided the defensive highlight of the tournament during the 8-4 loss to Eastern. He leaped up and robbed a homer in left-centerfield to end an inning while two runners were on base and Rocklin led 3-2 early in the game.

“(Eastern is) a really good team and the best team won,” Barry Moller said. “My team was good enough to get there and we had our chances.”

Rocklin won the District 11 title on July 13 to advance to the section tournament.