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Mid-valley roundup: Sutter Area junior LL walks off McKinleyville to capture section

jeff larson, appeal-democrat, marysville, calif.
·3 min read

Jul. 21—Sutter Area Little League's junior division baseball team walked off McKinleyville Tuesday, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to secure its first Section 2 championship and advance to the Northern California state tournament.

Sutter opens up its next phase of the summer this weekend at Chico Westside Little, located at 1550 Marauder Street in Chico. More details of the bracket will be released later this week.

Sutter Area's Karter Johnson had three hits, drove in a run and scored twice to lead the way. Sutter grabbed the lead first on McKinleyville with runs in each of the first four innings. However, McKinleyville tied it up with a four-spot in the sixth, forcing Sutter to rally.

Sutter enters this weekend as the District 2 and Section 2 champs.

The winner of the NorCal tourney heads to Bend, Oregon for the Western Regional beginning Aug. 4 at Caldera High School.

Colusa junior LL softball advances

For the first time, the Colusa Little League junior division softball all-stars have moved into the Western Regional tournament that gets underway this weekend.

Colusa advanced with a 4-3 win over North Natomas at the NorCal state tournament hosted by District 6 (North Natomas Little League).

Colusa finished 5-1 at the NorCal tournament, with two wins over Palermo, and a victory over Auburn, Feather River and North Natomas in the final.

Colusa, the NorCal representative, opens up against Nunaka LL of Alaska, at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Arthur Pack Regional Park in Tucson.

Like the previous tournaments, it will be double-elimination, with the winner advancing to the Junior World Series in Kirkland, Washington beginning July 31.

Gold Sox get two players drafted by MLB teams

The 2020 Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox collegiate baseball roster had two of its players drafted in the recently completed Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Nick Vogt, the grandson of Gold Sox Managing Partner Al Montna, was taken in the seventh round by San Diego.

Vogt played center field for the Gold Sox in 2020, hitting .247 with two home runs in 75 at-bats. At the University of California at Santa Barbara, Vogt hit .317 this past spring.

Gold Sox right-handed pitcher Ryan Harvey was selected in the 11th round by the New York Yankees.

Harvey, listed as No. 468 in Baseball America's pre-draft rankings, also played his college baseball at UCSB where he was the closer for the Gaucos this past spring. Harvey posted a 3.68 ERA, 1.364 WHIP, 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings, to go along with nearly three walks per nine in almost 30 innings pitched. He also collected 11 saves.

Since his days in Marysville, Harvey went on to pitch for the Ridgefield Raptors of the West Coast League, a similar league to Yuba-Sutter.

Harvey registered a 2.50 ERA and 9.5 strikeouts per nine in 50.1 innings between 2021-22 for the Raptors.

Ryan Harvey's brother, Jake Harvey, is playing for the Gold Sox this summer and will head to University of Nevada at Reno this fall.

As of today, the Gold Sox have moved over 75 collegiate athletes on to the professional level, according to the team front office.

"It is great to watch these college ball players develop and move forward in their careers," Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox General Manager Tommy Lininger said via a news release. "We had a solid roster in 2020 and it is no surprise both Vogt and Harvey went so high in this year's draft."

The Gold Sox begin the first of their last two weekend homestands tonight in the first of a two-game set against GamePrep. First pitch begins at 7 p.m. at Bryant Field in Marysville.

The first of its last two fireworks shows is set for Saturday following its game with the West Coast Kings.