Oaks first baseman Chris Harms tags Yolo's Manny Castaneda a little too late in a fifth inning pickoff try in Fair Oaks' 5-0 win over Post 77 at Clark Field in Woodland. Photo by Joe Blenkle

Fair Oaks 5, Yolo 0 (League: 11-1, Overall: 26-8-1) - July 11 @ Clark Field, Woodland - Fair Oaks beat Yolo Post 77 5-0 Saturday night to take the District 6 Championship and earn a berth in next week's Area 1 Playoffs in Redding.

    It was the fifth time the Oaks beat Yolo this season and their third straight shut out over the Woodland team.

    As was the case in their game the night before, the contest turned into an early pitcher's duel with Oaks starter Taylor Sanders and Yolo starter Trevor Cecil pretty much matching each other pitch for pitch.

Taylor Sanders

    The Oaks finally got on the scoreboard in the top of the fourth inning as  left fielder Cody Osburn led off with a hit to left field. With one out, third baseman Ryan Hall and designated hitter Bryce Bandilla drew back-to-back walks to load the bases for Fair Oaks. Catcher Shawn Wheeler then hit a sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Osburn to score to make it 1-0 and advanced Hall to third and Bandilla to second. The next batter, first baseman Chris Harms, brought everyone home as he launched the ball over the left field fence for a three-run homer to give the Oaks a 4-0 lead.

    Post 383 came back in the top of the sixth for another run - their final of the game - as right fielder jon Lang led off with a double to right field. They ball got by Yolo outfielder Thomas Leacox, however, and Lang wound up on third with no outs. Hall was the next batter and sent a ground ball to third. The throw to first got away and Hall was safe and went to second, with Lang easily scoring to make it a 5-0 Oaks lead. With one out, Wheeler bunted, sending Hall  to third, but a pop to the first baseman ended the inning and prevented any more Oaks runs from scoring.

    The Oaks faced a new pitcher in the seventh as Max Perea took the mound for Yolo. After two were out, Perea walked second baseman Josh Britt and Osburn, but then struck out the next batter to end the inning.

    Sanders put Yolo out in order in the bottom of the seventh and in the eighth, gave up a base hit, but then picked the runner off first to end the inning.

    Catchet Duncan took the mound for Yolo in the ninth, shutting the Oaks down with two strikeouts and a fly ball. Despite Yolo getting two runners on with one out in the bottom of the inning, Sanders threw a double play ball with designated hitter Wyatt Moreland grounding back to him on the mound. Sanders threw to Brian Kennedy at short for the out at second and the relay to Harms at first ended the game to give the Oaks the victory.

    Game Notes: Yolo's protest of the previous night's game was quickly dismissed by league officials. Despite Yolo's loss, Post 77 will be advancing to the Area 1 tournament along with the Oaks. Earlier, District 7 had protested that they never get two representatives to the Area 1 Tournament. The protest was initially granted and despite District 7 having only two teams in El Dorado and Auburn, both were scheduled to go to Area 1. After one of their worst seasons on record, Auburn apparently had a change of heart and dropped the protest. So Yolo was awarded the Area 1 berth rather than Auburn. Fair Oaks will face El Dorado in a 10 a.m. game on Wednesday, with Yolo facing the Redding Rattlers at 7 p.m at Redding's Tiger Field.

Fair Oaks: Pitching - Sanders and Wheeler. Top Hitters - J. Lang 2B; Harms HR, 3 RBI.
Yolo: Pitching - Cecil, Perea (7), Duncan (9) and Ryan.