Youth Scene: UPS earns huge win

The UPS Store Yankees pulled off a big victory Monday that sent them on to play in the AAA Division championship game in Laguna Beach Little League postseason tournament playoff action.

UPS Store moved on to the division final by defeating Crescent Bay Advisors, which finished in first-place during the regular season, 11-6, at Riddle Field. The Yankees were led by Charlie Tyus, Noah Neufeld, Sam Burchi and Andre Nunn. Nunn made a spectacular running catch in the final inning to help preserve the victory. Tyus and Jack Gallo pitched well for UPS and it was Neufeld, who overcame some wildness, to earn the save.

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In other AAA Division playoff action:

McKenna Porsche 9, Payoff.com 2: McKenna continued to roll in postseason play with a seven-run win Saturday at Riddle Field that eliminated Payoff from title contention.

McKenna was led at the plate by Redmond Chesley and Ben Dawson. Gavin Genske pitched three strong innings.

McKenna 4, Gapp Construction 2: In a game that featured excellent pitching and defense by both teams, McKenna eliminated Gapp from the postseason tournament Tuesday at Riddle Field.

Gapp’s Charlie Hunt made two excellent catches in center field to squash an early threat by McKenna, and pitchers Dylan McEachern and Camden Dowers both brought their “A” game to the mound and kept McKenna silent for a good part of the game.

Corwin Allard nearly went the distance pitching for McKenna, throwing five excellent innings that included four strikeouts. Ben Dawson came in to relieve Allard and sealed the victory.

Jackson Kollock hit a towering double and Owen Britt had an RBI.

McKenna will face CBA at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Riddle Field. The winner will advances to take on UPS Store in the division title game Monday at Riddle Field.

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Intermediate Division

VFW 4, Rotary 3: VFW, which finished third among three Laguna Beach teams in the division standings during the regular season, rallied from a three-run deficit to Rotary to pull out another come-from-behind playoff victory in an exciting game Tuesday at Riddle Field.

Rotary, the first-place Laguna team during the regular season, took a 3-0 with a two-run home run by Brandon Lindsay (two for three, RBI) in the first inning and scored a run in the second on a double by Griffin Naess who scored on an RBI single by Carter Johnson (hit, walk). Led by the stellar pitching of Jack Payne (no hits, not runs, one walk), Rotary carried their 3-0 lead into the fourth where Max Burchi scored VFW’s first run after singles by Shea Blanchard and Blake Sullivan (two for two, walk) and a sacrifice bunt by Camden Gilles.

VFW took the lead with a three-run fourth inning. Joseph Rosenberg hit a lead-off single, Luke Anderton walked, and hit by Maddox deBretteville. VFW manufactured the three runs with aggressive baserunning.

From there, VFW held on with tremendous pitching from deBretteville and a number of big plays on defense. Nick Bonn, despite being hobbled by injury, was phenomenal at shortstop making play after play. VFW notched its first complete game of the year with deBretteville (seven innings, six hits, three runs, two walks, three strikeouts). He held Rotary’s potent line-up scoreless over the final five innings.

Blanchard was stellar behind the plate and Anderton patrolled the outfield like a pro. In the first inning, Anderton and Blanchard saved what turned out to be an all-important run. Chase Hall of Rotary was on second base when Payne drilled a single to center field. Hall tried to score from second but Anderton threw a strike to Blanchard at home plate who made a great play putting the tag on Hall.

VFW came up with another key defensive play in the bottom of the seventh. Bonn and Burchi made a big play on a shot by Payne toward shortstop, with Burchi applying a swipe tag to force out the speedy Payne at first. Then, Rotary’s Brandon Lindsay singled and Riley Gapp was hit by a pitch, putting men on first and second with two out. Naess then hit a shot to the right side that got past Rosenberg into right-center field. Anderton charged and fired another strike to home plate, keeping Lindsay at third base. Then, deBretteville got out of the bases-loaded jam by striking out the final batter to end the game.

VFW 7, Hobie 5: VFW had to rally from three runs down to get past Hobie May 13 at Riddle Field.

Hobie, second among Laguna teams in the division in the regular season, got on the scoreboard early and held a 4-1 lead heading into the sixth inning. VFW came up with four runs in the sixth to take a 5-4 lead. Maddox deBretteville (hit, run) started the two-out rally with a single and was followed by a two-run home run by Nick Bonn (two RBIs, two runs). Max Burchi (three for four, RBI, run) and Shea Blanchard (two for three, RBI, run) singled and Erik Olsen (RBI) doubled to score Blanchard.

Blanchard (four innings, two runs, seven hits, two walks, four strikeouts) and Bonn (two innings, one run, three hits, one strikeout) led VFW on the mound.

Hobie was led on the mound by the strong pitching of Ben Reimers (four innings, one run, three hits, three walks, five strikeouts). Brandon Britt (two for three, home run, double, walk, RBI, three runs) propelled Hobie’s offensive attack with a solo homer in the third inning and a double in the fifth. Reimers went three for four with an RBI and run scored. Joey Capobianco (two for three, walk) and Boden Gillette (two for three, walk) also made significant contributions on offense for Hobie.

VFW was a combined 0-6 against Rotary and Hobie during the regular season.

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