Second baseman Derek Chase leads off first after a fifth inning hit to left field in the Oaks 12-7 victory over West Sacramento.

Fair Oaks 12, West Sacramento 7 (League: 16-6, Overall: 25-6) - July 15 @ Sacramento City College - Fair Oaks guaranteed themselves a shot at the District 6 championship with a 12-7 victory over West Sacramento Monday night at Sacramento City College.
    The Oaks, the defending District 6 champs, will play Yolo at 4 p.m. today (Tuesday) for the title. A win by Fair Oaks will crown Post 383 champions. A Yolo win would force a second game at 7:30 p.m.
    West Sacramento took a 1-0 lead off of Oaks starter Kris Wright in the first, but the Oaks stormed back for four runs in the bottom of the inning and never looked back.
    Center fielder Garrett Holtzen led off with a hit to left field and with shortstop Josh Thompson at the plate, moved to second on a wild pitch. Thompson bunted Holtzen to third and then with right fielder Bill Rhinehart at the plate, another wild pitch from West Sacramento starter Corey Cabral allowed Holtzen to score to make it 1-0.
    With first baseman Devin Spurling at the plate, yet another wild pitch moved Rhinehart to second. Spurling grounded to short, but Rhinehart advanced to third as designated hitter Doug Matlack drew another wild pitch from Cabral. Rhinehart scored on Matlack's hit to center and then with left fielder Charles Smith at the plate, Matlack stole second and then went to third on - you guessed it! - another wild pitch.
    Matlack scored to make it 3-1 on a Smith double to right field and Smith scored as catcher Joe Gaggero followed with a hit to right to make it 4-1.

Designated hitter Doug Matlack takes a practice swing as he looks to Oaks manager Don Barney for the sign just before bashing an eighth inning triple that gave the Oaks a 12-6 lead in their game against West Sacramento Monday night.

    Fair Oaks added a single run in the second as Holtzen beat out a ground ball to second for another hit with one out. Holtzen was erased on Thompson's ground ball to short, but then with Rhinehart at the plate, Thompson stole both second and third and then scored as Rhinehart sent a bouncer that took a high hop over second baseman Tyler Geivett's head.
    Two more runs came home in the third for a 7-1 lead despite the first two Oaks batters striking out.
    Gaggero drew a walk and went to third as third baseman Steve Snider got a hit to right field. With second baseman Derek Chase at the plate, Snider stole second and then both runners scored on Chase's hit up the middle.
    The Oaks continued their onslaught in the fourth as Wright continued to frustrate West Sacramento giving up only three hits through the first three innings.
    In the fourth, Thompson got a one out hit to left and then went to third as Rhinehart hit a ball to second. The throw to first got away allowing Rhinehart to take second safely. Spurling's fly to right allowed Thompson to score and then a Matlack hit to left scored Rhinehart to make it a 9-1 Oaks lead.
    West Sacramento went out in order in the top of the fifth and the Oaks came right back for another run in the bottom of the inning.
    With one out, Snider was hit by a pitch and then Chase followed with a hit to left field. With two outs and Thompson at the plate, a wild pitch allowed Snider to score all the way from second base to give the Oaks a 10-1 lead.
    West Sacramento finally got something going in the sixth as they scored three runs and drove Wright off the mound in favor of Mike Zeleski.
    Zeleski closed West Sacramento down in the sixth and the Oaks came back in the bottom of the inning for yet another run.
    Rhinehart led off the inning with a walk and stole second with Spurling at the plate. With one out, a ground ball by Matlack moved Rhinehart to third and he scored as Smith beat out a grounder to third for a hit making it an 11-4 game.
    Zeleski struggled a bit in the seventh as he hit a batter and gave up a hit and a walk to load the bases with two outs. The next batter, center fielder Jeff Renno, got a hit to left to score both runners and close West Sacramento's deficit to 11-6.
    Zeleski walked two of the three batters he faced in the eighth, prompting the Oaks to bring in A.J. Vidlund. Vidlund struck out the first batter he faced, but then a walk loaded the bases with two outs.
    Another strikeout ended the inning, however, and the Oaks retained their 11-6 lead.
    Post 383 added its final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth as Rhinehart beat out a ground ball to short to lead things off. Then, with one out, Matlack tripled to center to score Rhinehart and give the Oaks a 12-6 lead.
    An error and a pair of hits brought home another West Sacramento run with one out in the ninth to close the score to 12-7.
    Vidlund struck out the next batter for the second out of the inning, but then a walk to designated hitter Joshua Zonneveld load the bases. The next batter grounded to Thompson at short, however, and Thompson trotted to the second base bag for the force to end the game and give the Oaks a hard-fought 12-7 victory.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
WEST SACRAMENTO	1	0	0	0	0	3	2	0	1	7	11	2
FAIR OAKS	4	1	2	2	1	1	0	1	-	12	14	2

West Sacramento: Pitching - Cabral and Snyder. Top Hitters - Snyder 2x5, 2B; Renno 2x5, 3 RBI; Weldon 2x4; Lopes 2 RBI.
Fair Oaks: Pitching - K. Wright, Zeleski (6), Vidlund (8) and Gaggero. Top Hitters - Holtzen 2x5; Rhinehart 2x2; Matlack 3x5, 3B, 2 RBI; Smith 2x5, 2B, 2 RBI; Chase 2x4, 2 RBI; Spurling 2 RBI.