Little League: Petaluma Valley Juniors trounce Alaska, advance in West regional

The Petaluma Valley Juniors got their West Regional campaign underway in style on Thursday, thumping Alaska 12-0 in five innings to advance.

The Northern California champs got things going right out of the gate offensively, scoring six runs while capitalizing on a couple of Alaska (Gastineau Channel Little League) errors in the first inning.

“We looked like our old selves offensively,” Petaluma Valley head coach Shawn Dooley said. “Even though we only got six hits, we put the ball in play and made some hard contact. We felt pretty good about the performance all around, in fact.”

After an error off a Colt Cilia ground ball loaded the bases. Trevor Hermsmeyer walked to plate the game’s first run. Two batters later, Gavin Powell notched a sacrifice fly, and that was followed up with another two runs off an error. Chris Kircher then walked to score another run, and Jayden Perry scored on a wild pitch.

PVLL then scored another five runs in the bottom of the second, putting this game away early on. Colt Cilia added to the lead with a sacrifice fly, and Tyler Pelissetti scored on a wild pitch.

Two more runs would cross on a dropped third strike (passed ball), and Brandon Lozinto-Wyatt hit a sacrifice fly for the final run of the inning. Petaluma would score once more in the bottom of the third, as Tim Dooley scored on a fielder’s choice.

Four pitchers combined for a one-hit performance and had a total of five strikeouts. Pelissetti led things off, and was followed by Carson Lenz, Noah Holley and Kircher.

“Our defense was perfect,” Dooley said. “We made every play, including a couple of outstanding ones, and we made all of the routine ones look routine.”

PVLL will now play the host, Bend North Little League, in the next round on Friday at 1:00 p.m.

You can reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or kienan.odoherty@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @kodoherty22.