Post 383's Charles Smith slides into second safely on a third inning steal in the Oaks game against Yolo Sunday. Fair Oaks lost the game 12-9 and was eliminated from the Area 1 Tournament in Yountville.

Yolo 12, Fair Oaks 9 (League: 16-6, Overall: 28-8) - July 28 @ Yountville, Calif. - It was almost a perfect script. The Oaks trailed 12-9. The bases were loaded. There were two out in the ninth. And Post 383's Bill Rhinehart, who had already homered earlier in the game, came to the plate.
    Unfortunately for the Oaks, the fairy-tale ending never came about as Rhinehart struck out to give Yolo Post 77 a three run victory over the District 6 Champion Fair Oaks Oaks.
    Fair Oaks starter Kris Wright sent Yolo down in order in the top of the first and in their usual fashion, the Oaks came right back to take a lead, staking Wright to a 1-0 advantage early in the game.
    With one out, shortstop Josh Thompson got a hit to center and then with Rhinehart at the plate, stole second and then third. Rhinehart walked, bringing left fielder Mickey Weisser to the plate. Weisser's sacrifice fly to center scored Thompson to give the Oaks a 1-0 lead.
    The Oaks added another pair of runs in the second after two were out as third baseman Steve Snider was hit by a pitch. With center fielder Garrett Holtzen at the plate, a wild pitch from Yolo starter Jeff Woodard sent Snider to second. Holtzen walked and then Thompson doubled to left to score both runners for the 3-0 lead.
    Things went bad quickly in the third for the Oaks, however, as four hits, an error and a hit batter brought home five Yolo runs to put Post 77 in the lead by a 5-3 score.
    Yolo added another run in the fourth as an error, hit batter and walk loaded the bases with no outs and drove Wright off the mound in favor of Dixon Allen. A ground ball off Allen scored one run, but then a strikeout and double play going from Thompson at short to A.J. Vidlund at second and on to first baseman Devin Spurling ended the inning.
    The Oaks got one run back in the bottom of the inning as Vidlund led off with a hit to left. With Snider at the plate, a wild pitch sent Vidlund to second and he moved to third on a ground ball to short that Yolo shortstop Karl Coulson fielded but couldn't make a play on. Vidlund then scored on Thompson's sacrifice fly to center to make it a 6-4 game.
    Two consecutive hits off Allen to start the sixth, coupled with a pair of errors gave Yolo a 9-4 advantage and then two more hits brought in another pair of runs to make it an 11-4 game.
    The Oaks got one run back in the bottom of the sixth on consecutive hits by Mike Wright, Vidlund and Snider to make it 11-5, but Yolo answered back in the eighth with a lone run on a one out double by Coulson and a two out hit to left by designated hitter Mike Redford.
    The Oaks weren't ready to give up the game though. In the bottom of the eighth, Snider led off with a hit to center, followed by a hit up the middle by Holtzen. Yolo's shortstop made a diving stop, but got up and threw wildly to first allowing Holtzen to take second and Snider to make it to third.
    Rhinehart then came up and knocked the ball over the right field fence to bring the score to 12-8.
    Allen put Post 77 down in order in the top of the ninth and the Oaks almost pulled the game out when their turn came to bat.
    With two outs, Vidlund doubled to right and then Snider sent a ball to short, beating the throw to first for a hit. Holtzen then walked to load the bases and Thompson got a hit to right to score Vidlund and make it a 12-9 game.
    This prompted Yolo to bring in a new pitcher as Mike Redford took the mound to face Rhinehart.
    Rhinehart, who had homered the day before against Eureka and drove in three runs earlier in the game with a homer, looked at a called strike on the first pitch. A ball followed and then Rhinehart looked at another pitch for a strike to bring the count to 1-2. Rhinehart fouled off the next pitch and then took a mighty swing over Redford's next offering to strike out and end the game.
    Despite the loss, it was a classic game between the two District 6 rivals - and a near repeat of last year when the Oaks won the District 6 title from Yolo only to see Post 77 advance to the finals of the Area 1 Tournament.

TEAM	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
YOLO	0	0	5	1	0	5	0	1	0	12	14	1
FAIR OAKS	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	3	1	9	16	3

Yolo: Pitching - Woodard, Redford (9) and Lopez. Top Hitters - Cody 2x5, 3 RBI; Coulson 2B, 2 RBI; Redford 3x5, 4 RBI; Lopez 2x4; Finazzo 2x4.
Fair Oaks: Pitching - K. Wright, Allen (4) and Matlack. Top Hitters - Thompson 2x4, 2B, 4 RBI; Rhinehart HR, 3 RBI; Smith 2x5; M. Wright 2x3; Vidlund 3x5, 2B; Snider 4x4.