Almaden Little League has its sign-ups for the next season scheduled during the second week of November.

Sign-ups will happen on Monday, November 16th and Tuesday, November 17th from 6pm to 9pm at Castillero Middle school.  All players are required to bring proof-of-residency.  (See the sign-up flyer for details).  New players are also required to bring an original or certified copy of their birth certificates.  The registration fee this year is unchanged at $225.

To download the sign-up flyer, click HERE.

The Almaden Senior All-Stars had a phenomenal run through 3 tournaments, but it all came to an end on Friday (July 31st) evening in Stockton.

Almaden rolled through both the District and Sectional tournaments without a loss, winning 6 games in a row.  Then, on Sunday, July 26th, in the State/Division tournament, Almaden started off with a win against Niles-Centerville, followed by a win against Oakland to get them to championship game against Niles-Centerville [N-C] where they would have two chances to secure a trip to the Regional tournament in Southern California.  N-C won the first game with a 4-0 shut-out.  The 6'5" N-C ace held Almaden to 2 hits and no walks while throwing a complete game.

Then, came the final game of the championship, with the winner going to the Regionals.  Almaden took the lead in the first inning when Codie O'Connell singled and scored on Justin Buller's double.  In the third inning, Almaden added another when O'Connell singled and scored this time on Kavin Patel's hit.  However, N-C tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a walk, single, and an error.  Almaden didn't score again until the 5th inning when O'Connell reached base again, this time on an catcher's inteference, advanced on Patel's single, and was driven in by Tyler Champlin's double to deep right-center.  Codie O'Connell pitched 5 strong innings, but ran out of pitches and was replaced by J.D. Correa who would finish the game.

Almaden took the 3-2 lead into the bottom of the 7th inning, but it didn't last.  With one out, the N-C eighth hitter doubled to left-center, then scored on an Almaden throwing error when the next batter put the ball in play.  Amazingly, the 3-3 tied game held all the way through the 9th inning when N-C loaded the bases with no outs.  But, Correa pitched out of it and the game eventually made it to the 10th inning.  In the bottom of the 10th inning, the N-C lead-off batter was hit by a pitch and advanced on an infield flare over the pitcher's head.  The next batter laid down a bunt, the throw went wide to first base, and the N-C lead off hitter scored the winning run.  It was a tough, heart-breaking loss for Almaden, but they were able to hold their heads high for battling through a marathon game against N-C and coming within 2 outs of heading to Los Angeles.

There are two sizes for the bricks - a medium (individual's) version and a large (Sponsor's) version (see photo to the right).  For the individual brick order form, please click HERE.   If you are interested in the larger, sponsor's brick order form, please click HERE.