Van Valkenburg leads Saugerties past Hudson

SAUGERTIES — Saugerties’ Jace Van Valkenburg had himself a day against Hudson in their District 15 Little League 11-12-year-old All-Stars Tournament game at Ernie Fick Field on Monday.

Van Valkenburg hit two three-run homers in a 10-run third inning and was also the winning pitcher as Saugerties posted a 17-0 victory to remain unbeaten in the tournament.

The game was stopped after three innings because of the 15-run rule.

Hudson suffered its first loss in the tourney and will play Northern Columbia in a losers bracket game on Thursday at a site to be determined, with the winner moving on to the championship series against Saugerties.

Defending champion Saugerties jumped on Hudson in the first inning, plating three runs on four hits. Logan DePasquale drilled an RBI double in the uprising. Liam Turk contributed an RBI single and Owen Gallagher’s sacrifice fly to left brought in another run.

Saugerties added four runs in the second. After a walk to Ty Van Valkenburg and an infield single by Jace Van Valkenburg, DePasquale delivered a two-run triple. Gallagher followed with a two-run homer to widen the gap to 7-0.

Saugerties put the game out of reach in the third. Nate Winnie got the inning started with a bunt single and Ty Van Valkenburg singled, setting the stages for Jace Van Valkenburg, who blasted the first of his three-run homers.

After Saugerties loaded the bases, Damon Weishaupt walked to force in a run, Joey Maloney was hit by a pitch to bring in another, Winnie had an infield single to bring in a run and Ty Van Valkenburg hit a sacrifice fly to make it 14-0. Jace Van Valkenburg put an exclamation point on the inning with his second three-run bomb.

Jace Van Valkenburg finished 3 for 3 with six RBI to highlight Saugerties’ 15-hit attack. DePasquale had a triple, two singles and three RBI, Gallagher a home run and two RBI, Brady Reynolds three singles, Winnie two singles and an RBI, Turk and Ty Van Valkenburg a single and an RBI apiece, Andrew Mulford a single and Weishaupt and Maloney an RBI each.

Matty Munro and Jayden Morrison both singled to account for Hudson’s only hits off Jace Van Valkenburg, who struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.

Ashton Hotaling and Antonio Troy shared pitching duties for Hudson, walking five batters, hitting two and allowing 17 runs on 15 hits.