One of only three teams who went 0-2 in the District 10 All-Star Tournament [ages 11-12] in Williams last week, the Sedona All-Stars seemed to put up a fight more so than the others but in the end were eliminated.

“Both games were well played by us. I’m impressed with how hard the boys fought and they did a heck of a job,” Sedona Skipper Eric Mikulewicz said.

After losing to the Dewey-Humbolt All-Stars on July 6 by the final score of 4-2, Sedona All Stars knew what they were up against the next day having to win out to claim a District 10 title.

Starting pit-cher Scott Moker was brilliant against Dewey-Humbolt, pitch-ing 4-1/3 innings, allowing four runs on five hits while walking two and striking out nine.

“I thought Scotty [Moker] pitched great. We were in that game until the end and didn’t get the breaks we needed to win,” Mikulewicz said.

With the solid performance in game one of the tournament for Moker, he was unavailable on July 8 against the Bagdad All-Stars at Williams Little League Fields.

Wesley Mikulewicz would step up his game however and take the ball in game two of the tournament for Sedona.

Mikulewicz would turn in an admirable performance, pitching five innings while allowing six runs on seven hits while walking only two and striking out one Bagdad batter.

The turning point in this game came in the top of the sixth inning with Sedona down 6-4 and three outs to play with.

A few minutes later, Stefan Zielinski, who started the inning off with a single, scored on a wild pitch and left with the bases loaded and his team down, 6-5.

Unfortunately for Sedona, that’s exactly where the score would stay as Jesus Delgado, who stood on first base in a bases loaded situation, simply forgot to run to second base on a ground ball to the second baseman off the bat of Moker.

The Bagdad defender picked up the ground ball, tagged Delgado who stood there in front of him, then ran to the bag to force out Moker and end the game, and the tournament, for Sedona, 6-5.

The Bill Buckner moment with the base running instead of the glove may go down as the reason Sedona lost, but these All-Stars had plenty of chances to score more runs throughout the game and not be in this predicament to begin with.

Sedona tallied only one run in the top of the first inning when they could have gotten two or three more, then only managed three runs in the fourth inning when it could have been four or five.

Defensively Sedona played very well, committing only four errors between the two games, a stat that is usually high at this age level.

Nevertheless, Sedona had a few standouts at the plate against Bagdad Wednesday.

Zielinski led the charge for Sedona going 3-4 with two runs scored while Mikulewicz was 2-3 with a double, a walk and two RBIs.

Catcher Tucker Davis was solid as well, going 2-4 while Jasper Herrick was 1-3 with a run scored.

“I’m impressed with the tenacity and our willingness to fight to the end. Most teams you see at this age level just get down on themselves after trailing in the score but not these guys,” Mikulewicz said.

Brian Bergner Jr. can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 131, or e-mail bbergner@larsonnewspapers.com