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Friday MLB — Giants at Tigers, 4 p.m., CSNB MLB — Diamondbacks at Athletics, 7 p.m., CSNC Tennis — Wimbledon, 4 a.m., ESPN2, 9 a.m., NBC World Cup — Japan vs Mexico, 5:45 a.m., ESPN World Cup — New Zealand vs England, 9 a.m., ESPN PGA —AT&T National, Noon, TGC Sports 1B Friday July 1, 2011 Wilcox champs Little League Updates Courtesy photo Wilcox Oaks Women's Golf Association held their two best-ball Reciprocal Tournament on Wednes- day. Top players were: First Place: Hattie Taylor, Marcia Foster,Yvonne Ricker and Carol Jones with a 132; Second Place: Irene Winter, Carol Vanek, Kay Parick and Nora Rick with a 133; and Third Place: Loretha Harrah, Judy Bosanek Joan Wagoner and Linda Arellano with a 133. Soto downs Giants in 13th inning CHICAGO (AP) — Between the blown leads and the lack of hits, it wasn’t a pleasant day for the San Francisco Giants at friendly old Wrigley Field. When it was over, man- ager Bruce Bochy promised changes were in store. Geovany Soto delivered a pinch-hit, three-run homer that capped a four-run rally with two outs in the 13th inning and sent the Chicago Cubs to a wild 5-2 victory over the Giants on Thursday. ‘‘We’ve got to get these bats going,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘We’ve got some guys who are scuffling. So, we’ll have to make some changes here.’’ He singled out leadoff hitter Carlos Torres after he went hitless with four strike- outs in six at-bats. He is 7 for 46 over his last 19 games and can expect some time on the bench. ‘‘Definitely Torres needs a break,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘He’s lost right now at the plate.’’ He’s not the only one at the moment. After pounding out 19 runs while sweeping a day- night doubleheader to start this four-game series, they have managed just three while dropping the past two games. Soto’s drive finished an eventful day for the Cubs. Starter Carlos Zambrano left in the second inning because of soreness in his lower back, then Aramis Ramirez hit a tying home run in the ninth off San Fran- cisco closer Brian Wilson. The Giants were leading 2-1 after a solo shot by Pablo Sandoval in the top of the 13th off John Grabow (1-0), but the Cubs struck back in the bottom half against Ramon Ramirez (2- 1). Jeff Baker doubled with two outs and scored the tying run on a single by Dar- win Barney, who had checked his swing on the previous pitch — an 0-2 slider. Ramirez then inten- tionally walked Starlin Cas- tro and Soto, batting for Grabow, launched a 3-2 pitch over the left-field wall to give the Cubs the win and the series split. ‘‘I was just trying to get a fastball. See it. Time it. He Red Bluff stayed undefeated in the District 1 tournament, with a 10-2 win over Cottonwood, Wednesday. Meanwhile East Redding beat Corning 9-5. Red Bluff will face East Redding in the winner’s bracket on July 7. Corning faces the winner of Yreka and South Siskiyou on July 6. Wesley Clawson threw all 85 of his pitch allotment to pick up the win for Red Bluff. He struck out eight batters. Lane Pritchard closed out the game. Red Bluff put three runs on the board in the first inning as Austin Youngblood, Pritchard and Clawson all scored. Clawson capped a four-run second inning with a home run. Youngblood, Kolby Button and Deonte Antolin also scored. Button homered in the fourth inning and Youngblood also scored. Red Bluff tacked on a 10th run in the fifth inning. Corning was playing Cottonwood Thursday night with the winner headed to play Foothill, Friday in the champi- onship. Foothill previously beat Corning 5-2. Corning beat Red Bluff 6-5 and now heads to the July 5 championship. Red Bluff plays today at 6 p.m. against the winner of Thursday’s Cottonwood and Foothill game. East Redding eliminated Corning 1-0. Red Bluff plays West Redding on July 6 at 6 p.m. in a winner’s bracket semifinal. Corning beat Anderson 9-6 to earn a spot in the South MCT photo Geovany Soto watches his 13th inning game-winning home run. never threw one,’’ Soto said after hitting the first game- ending homer of his career. ‘‘On 3-2, I just try to see the ball, see it up, breaking pitch up. I knew Pena was on deck and a lefty. He left it a little bit up, and I put good wood on it. It feels unbeliev- able.’’ Chicago will take that after dropping the day-night doubleheader before pulling out a 2-1 win on Wednes- day. The Cubs will try for their first three-game win- ning streak this season when they open a weekend series against the White Sox on Friday. The Giants managed just five hits and went 10 1-3 innings without one before Sandoval went deep, wast- ing another dominant start by Matt Cain. Even so, they were in line to win this one. But they just couldn’t close it out. ‘‘We made a lot of mis- takes hitting,’’ Sandoval said. ‘‘We have to make adjustments to win the game.’’ Ramirez, whose pinch- hit single in the ninth gave the Cubs their victory a day earlier, came up big again with his team trailing 1-0 in the ninth and Wilson going for his major league-leading 25th save. He drove a 3-1 pitch out to left for his 299th career homer and 10th this season. ‘‘He’s not only a great hitter, but a great clutch hit- ter,’’ Cubs catcher Koyie Hill said. ‘‘The last two days, he’s proven that.’’ And Soto? Well, no one appreciated that homer more than Hill, who caught the entire game. ‘‘We’re pretty tight, but we’re really tight today,’’ Hill said. ‘‘That was nice. That was fun for him to hit that.’’ The Giants loaded the bases against Grabow in the 12th on walks to Cody Ross and Nate Schierholtz to start the inning and an intentional pass to Miguel Tejada with one out. But they came away with nothing when pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff flied to shallow center and Aaron Rowand lined to right. Cain pitched four-hit ball over seven scoreless innings for his second straight start. He also struck out six and walked one, just as he did in his previous outing against Cleveland. For the Cubs, it was an alarming sight to see Zam- brano leaving early. He arrived at the ballpark in dis- comfort, and his day ended when he threw a ball to Eli Whiteside after an RBI sin- gle by Tejada. He started stretching his back, and trainer Mark O’Neal and pitching coach Mark Riggins rushed out with manager Mike Quade following. Marcos Mateo then relieved with the Giants leading Chicago 1-0. That was all for Zambrano, who was booed as he walked off the mound. Zambrano has struggled at times this season but had been pitching well of late, going at least seven innings in his previous two starts against the White Sox and Kansas City. Mateo tossed five score- less innings in relief, striking out six without a walk. Jeff Samardzija, Sean Marshall, James Russell each pitched one. Carlos Marmol worked the 10th and 11th, and Grabow escaped a bases- loaded jam in the 12th before giving up that home run in the 13th. ‘‘God bless Mateo,’’ Quade said. ‘‘Are you kid- ding me? The whole bullpen, obviously, was great, but he was better than great, to give us that length and that quality. Man, oh, man, what a great job by that kid. Saved us. Helped us win the game. Helped us for tomorrow. Just a huge effort.’’ Bracket championship. Central Tehama was playing Cottonwood, Thursday night, with the winner set to meet Anderson at 6 p.m., Fri- day. Coaches and Parents Send us your Little League All-Star results, stats, pictures and stories to sports@redbluffdailynews.com. To speak directly to Sports Editor Rich Greene call 527-2151, ext. 109. BASEBALL The South County Sun Devils went 1-1 at the opening day of the Shasta Lake Bass Firecracker Baseball Classic. Red Bluff’s Colin Igarta allowed just a pair of hits and two runs in a complete game 4-2 win in the opener against the Shasta Lake Bass. Blake Burnett went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles. The Chico Suns-Red beat the Sun Devils 4-0 in the sec- ond game. South County managed just three hits. Those came from Red Bluff’s Igarta and Mitch Fox as well as Jordan Deppe. A’s trade Ellis, lose OAKLAND (AP) — A day that began with the Oakland Athletics saying goodbye to a familiar face ended with an all-too-familiar result. The A’s traded veteran second baseman Mark Ellis short- ly before losing for the sixth time in eight games, a 5-4 defeat to Florida on Thursday when Oakland once again failed to score an earned run off a Marlins starter. Ellis, who came up in 2002, was the longest-tenured play- er on the A’s and the only man on the 25-man roster who was part of the division-winning teams last decade. But with the emergence of rookie Jemile Weeks in recent weeks, general manager Billy Beane dealt him to Colorado for two minor leaguers. See A's, page 2B Baseball Division (11-12) Little League Softball Division (11-12) Little League 9-and 10-year-old Softball Division Baseball Division 11-year-old 9-and 10-year-old Baseball Division Chi. Cubs 5,13 inn Giants 2 Florida 5 Athletics 4