Maidu falls to Fair Oaks Orangevale, playing for title Thursday

It feels like déjà vu. The Maidu 10-11-year-old All-Star team was cruising along in the District 54 tournament with two shutout victories only to lose to Lakeside, 9-8, which forced a second championship game the following day. Flash forward to current day, as Maidu had three shutout victories only to lose to a Fair Oaks Orangevale team that lost in the first round of the Section 4 tournament and had to come all the way through the loser's bracket to force a second championship game. For Maidu's sake, they hope for the same ending to the District 54 Tournament, when they came out and trounced Lakeside the next day, 7-1. The Section 4 championship game was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Mann Park in Folsom. Maidu lost the game in the first inning when they came out flat, and allowed two runs. Sawyer Bovolick, coming off a near perfect game last Saturday, walked the first batter he faced and then allowed a single. After a strikeout, a routine ground ball hit to first baseman Knox Needles couldn't be handled. With the bases loaded, the next batter singled to left to score two runs. Offensively, Maidu outhit Fair Oaks Orangevale 6-3 but couldn't generate but one run in the top of the fourth inning. With two outs, the top of the Maidu batting order hit three consecutive singles from Carter McIlnay, Lucas Jacob and Bovolick with Bovolick's hit scoring McIlnay, but when Jacob took a wide turn at third, he was thrown out and the inning was over. Fair Oaks Orangevale got that run back, though, in the bottom of the fourth with only one hit. The leadoff batter got a single and advanced to second when the ball got by the Maidu right fielder Bryce Fearn. The runner then stole third and scored on a wild pitch. Maidu had two runners on with one out in the sixth, but Fair Oaks Orangevale recorded the last two outs of the inning to win 3-1. "Tight game and a lot of selfish play out there today," Maidu Manager Justin Bovolick said. "Hand it to FOV, they did everything they needed to do to win the game. They played defense; they didn't make many mistakes. We just made too many mistakes. We made a handful of mistakes that led to their runs that ultimately decided the game. "The guys have to play with nothing to lose in these big games. Championship games are a different mentality. You've got to learn how to play those."