Merced Volunteers come up short in state title game. Petaluma advances to regional.

The depth of the Petaluma Leghorns pitching staff shined at the American Legion State Tournament. Travis Morgan limited the Merced Volunteers to just seven hits as the Leghorns defeated Merced 4-1 in the championship game on Sunday morning to cap a perfect 4-0 run at the tournament.

The Leghorns pitching staff surrendered just nine runs in four games as their season will continue next week at a regional tournament in Denver.

The Volunteers (22-16) finish as the runner-up for the second time in four years.

“It’s tough. It hits you hard every time,” said Volunteers outfielder Christian Witt, who finished his Volunteers career with his fourth trip to the state tournament. “The same thing happened my first year when I was a sophomore. We finished runner-up to Chico. It’s not as bad this time because I’ve been through it before, but it’s hard on some of the new guys.”

Morgan kept the Volunteers’ bats in check and he didn’t hurt himself. He only walked one batter and hit another.

“He had good command with his fastball and breaking pitches,” Volunteers coach Rollo Adams said. “We did put some good swings on some pitches but the ball were right at people.”

Merced starter Clayton Hall went the distance on the mound and pitched well enough to win. He tamed a Petaluma team that had scored 31 runs in its first three games of the tournament.

After watching the Leghorns pound out 16 hits in a 14-6 win over the Volunteers on Saturday, Hall knew he had to keep the hitters off balance.

“We knew they were a good fastball-hitting team,” Hall said. “I had to mix my pitches and throw a lot of offspeed. I threw my slider and a big overhand curveball.”

Petaluma scored an unearned run in the first and took a 2-0 lead on an RBI single by Joe Lampe in the fourth inning. Witt helped keep the lead at 2-0 by throwing out a runner at the plate trying to score from second on Lampe’s hit.

“As soon as the ball was hit I was thinking throw home,” Witt said. “It was a good situation and it all worked out.”

The Volunteers lone run of the game came in the fourth inning when Pete Minor singled in R.J.. Garcia with two outs to cut the lead to 2-1.

The Leghorns extended the lead to 4-1 in the seventh inning as Cam Downing singled in a run and Porter Slate delivered an RBI double.

Hall gave up the four runs on seven hits.

“He was outstanding,” Adams said. “Like I told the kids after the game, for a kid who hasn’t pitched much since his freshman year, he was a bulldog for us. He had a great season.”

The Volunteers tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh inning as they loaded the bases with two outs, but Morgan got Garcia to pop out to second base to end the threat and the game.

The Volunteers finished 3-2 in the tournament with both losses coming to Petaluma. Merced defeated Patrick Henry of San Diego 7-5 in eight innings on Saturday afternoon to reach Sunday’s championship game.

“I told the guys after the game we have to get stronger,” Adams said. “We wave to get in the weight room if we want to advance at this level. We have to continue growing our understanding of the game of baseball. I don’t think we’re there yet.”

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