Mill Valley's 12U All-Stars are Section champions, headed to State for first time in 12 years

Mill Valley's Little League 12U All-Stars beat Davis 8-2 Tuesday in Concord to claim the Section 1 title, closing out an unbeaten tournament run. The game started at 6pm in 93-degree heat, with a felt temperature even higher on the field.

Mill Valley wasted no time. In the first inning, Cooper Maddex and Paxton King opened with back-to-back singles, and Wyatt Droege reached on an error to bring Cooper Maddex home. Jack Devlin's single scored Paxton King, and Tate Shackleton's single brought home both Wyatt Droege and Jack Devlin, the second run scoring on an error, to make it 4-0 before Davis batted.

Davis answered in the second, scoring twice and cutting the lead to 4-2. But that's as close as Davis would get.

Mill Valley pulled away in the fourth. Jack Devlin doubled and came around to score on Tate Shackleton's double, and Tate Shackleton later scored on a sacrifice fly from Charlie McIntosh, pushing the lead to 6-2. The 12s put it away in the fifth: Jonas Jackson doubled, moved to third on a Tyler Feduska sacrifice bunt, and scored on a single from Lucas Parrett. Laszlo Winn followed with a double, and Cooper Maddex's single brought him home to make it 8-2, the final score.

Cooper Maddex was the workhorse on the mound, striking out three over four innings to earn the win, and Lucas Parrett closed it out with two hitless, scoreless innings of relief.

Mill Valley finished Section 1 unbeaten, with wins over Martinez, Napa and Petaluma before beating Davis for the title.

The team: The 12U All-Star roster includes Calvin Boehle, Cody Chittenden, Zach Cornelius, Milo Davies, Jack Devlin, Wyatt Droege, Tyler Feduska, Jonas Jackson, Paxton King, Cooper Maddex, Charlie McIntosh, Ezra Pope-Meyer, Lucas Parrett, Tate Shackleton, Stone Strader, Cameron Welstead and Laszlo Winn. Ben Chittenden manages the team, with Jesse Maddex and Lane Shackleton coaching.

Looking back: The last Mill Valley 12U team to reach state was the 2014 squad under manager Andy Flynn, according to an account from longtime MVLL record-keeper Bill Johnston. That team needed a dramatic comeback to survive its sectional opener, overcoming an 11-run first inning by Vacaville and a 12-3 deficit before a grand slam from Jake Gassman sparked a ten-run rally to steal the game. Mill Valley cruised through the rest of sectionals and advanced to the Northern California tournament in San Jose, where the team won its first two games before falling to eventual regional finalists Pacifica and Woodcreek, finishing third in Northern California, the deepest a Mill Valley 12U or Majors team had gone until this year's run.

Why it matters: The win sends Mill Valley to the Northern California state tournament in Chico, marking the second Mill Valley team to reach state this year: the 14U All-Stars did so a few weeks ago. According to MVLL president Patti Shore, this is the first time in the league's history that two Mill Valley teams have reached state in the same year.

Four more wins in Chico would send Mill Valley to the West Regional in San Bernardino, and the West Regional winner advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.

What's next: Mill Valley opens state tournament play Saturday at 9am against El Dorado Hills, who also went undefeated through their sectional tournament.

What's happening: The Marin County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 on July 14 to send a special tax measure to the November 3 ballot for 11 properties, including one vacant lot, on a private cul-de-sac off Bay Road in unincorporated Tam Valley. The vote follows a petition signed by 72 percent of the road's property owners, according to the petition and the county's staff report, above the 50 percent threshold required under the state's Permanent Road Division law.

One resident described the road's surface as having deteriorated over decades in comments at the June 23 hearing, a characterization that hasn't been independently verified against an engineering assessment.

Why it matters: Developed parcels would pay $4,350 a year and the undeveloped parcel would pay $2,175 a year, both for 10 years, under the ballot language the board adopted, together funding an estimated $456,750 repaving. After 10 years, the tax drops to $455 per parcel per year for ongoing maintenance, adjusted annually for inflation tied to the Consumer Price Index, per the same resolution. The county's staff report states that because the road is privately owned and not maintained by the county, responsibility for repairs otherwise rests solely with the property owners.

The complication: County Counsel Brandon Halter told the board that once a valid petition clears the signature threshold, state law gives it no authority to adjust the tax structure, redraw the district's boundaries, or weigh fairness arguments. That leaves November's vote strictly up or down, decided by two-thirds of votes cast, according to the staff report.

The debate: A resident whose property sits near the road's entrance wrote to the board on July 10, asking it to adopt a rate tied to how much of the road each property actually uses rather than a flat per-parcel charge, arguing that properties farther up the road rely on its full length while their own use is limited to the first stretch. The letter said its authors weren't asking the board to delay the election. A Briefing review of the hearing record and board minutes found no response to the letter from the board or county staff.

Other residents who spoke, including one who described roughly 20 years of unsuccessful informal efforts to reach agreement on repairs, said a formal funding mechanism was necessary because voluntary cost-sharing hadn't produced results.

What's next: Ballots go out for the November 3 election. Public Works Senior Civil Engineer Hugh Davis, who authored the county's staff report, said legal notices will run in the Marin Independent Journal for three consecutive weeks beforehand and be posted along the road at least 15 days before the vote. Interim Assistant Public Works Director Robin Bartlett told the board that if approved, work is targeted for spring 2027. Davis's staff report states that roughly $33,950 the county has already spent administering the process won't be recoverable if the tax fails, and the road would remain the responsibility of individual property owners with no formal funding mechanism in place.

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