Youth Scene: Rotary takes division championship
Rotary came back from an early loss in Laguna Beach Little League Intermediate Division postseason tournament play to beat VFW twice during the week to win the division championship.
Having won the regular-season title with a 13-4 record, Rotary went 3-1 in the tournament to capture the tournament title.
In Monday’s game, Jack Payne and Chase Hall led the team with stellar performances. Payne went three for three and delivered three home runs that totaled six runs to lead a 7-4 Rotary victory at Riddle Field. Hall pitched 5 1/3 innings and only allowed one hit. Bryce Ford and Brandon Lindsay added two hits apiece and Riley Gapp chipped in with a hit in Rotary’s 10-hit attack.
Luca Laurence made a spectacular catch in right field and Griff Naess and Jett Hamil made big plays at third and second base, respectively, for Rotary.
VFW played flawless defense with Nick Bonn making countless plays at shortstop to nail Rotary base runners including two double plays. Maddox de Bretteville, Luke Anderton and Shea Blanchard each pitched great for VFW. Blanchard and Max Burchi picked up the two hits each.
Monday’s outcome set up the winner-takes-all championship rematch Wednesday. Payne was brilliant on the mound allowing only one hit and issuing one walk with nine strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Payne also kept his bat hot with two more home runs this game, giving him five home runs in his last five at-bats of the season at Riddle Field.
The game’s tone was set in the first inning when Hall, Payne and Lindsay hit back-to-back-to-back home runs to power Rotary to a 4-0 lead. Sam Marzulli added two, rocket base hits, and Gapp finished his brilliant Riddle career with a line drive to left-center field along, and closed out the game on the mound getting a game-ending double play.
VFW had nice hits by Bonn and Eric Olsen.
Both teams fought hard and played with sportsmanship in front of a great community of fans and celebratory crowd at Riddle Field.
Rotary and Team Hobie will represent the LBLL Intermediate Division at the Little League District 55 Tournament of Champions which starts next Wednesday.
Team Rotary is: Jett Hamil, Aaron Childs, Bryce Ford, Lucas McKibben, Luca Laurence, Riley Gapp, Carter Johnson, Griff Naess, Brandon Lindsay, Jack Payne, Sam Marzulli and Chase Hall.
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AAA Division Tournament
Crescent Bay Advisors 3, The UPS Store 1: In the division’s championship game Wednesday at Riddle Field, CBA prevailed over rival UPS in a hard-fought and well-played game.
In the end, CBA’s pitching and defense carried the day. Cade Anderton (six innings, one run, six hits, two strikeouts) put on a masterful performance going the full, six innings on only 46 pitches. The CBA defense behind him could not have been better. Luke Machin, incredibly had three, unassisted double plays. Max Reimers, Aidan Malm, Jackson Lawsky, Hunter Gray and Luke Fetzer also made key defensive plays.
On offense, Machin was doubled, Gray singled, Malm singled and had an RBI, James Dechary singled, walked and scored, and Sean Laird walked and scored.
UPS played a great game, certainly well enough to deserve a victory. Noah Neufeld (two innings pitched, three runs, two hits, three walks, three strikeouts) and Jack Gallo (three innings, two hits, two walks, two strikeouts) were stellar on the mound. Neufeld (one for two) led the offense with a shot off the fence. On the play, Malm, in center field for CBA, sent a relay throw to Anderton, and Anderton’s threw to home plate to get Gallo out as he attempted to score from first base.
Will Goodwin (two for two, run), Charlie Tyus (one for two) and Andre Nunn (one for one, double) also were key contributors for UPS.
Both CBA and UPS will represent Laguna Beach Little League’s AAA Division next week at the Little League District 55 Tournament of Champions.
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Crescent Bay Advisors 11, The UPS Store 2: CBA scored five runs in the second inning to break away from a 3-2 lead and went on to defeat UPS Monday.
CBA jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning only to see UPS score two runs in the bottom of the frame. CBA scored five runs in the second with Sean Laird (two walks, two runs) and Jackson Lawsky (single, run) starting the rally.
After jumping out to an 8-2 lead, CBA held on with stellar pitching and defense led by Devon Connelly (three innings, two runs, three hits, one strikeout), Cade Anderton (two innings, no runs, no hits, one strikeout) and Luke Machin (one inning, no runs, no hits, one strikeout). CBA was led on offense by Machin (two for three, two RBIs, run), Luke Fetzer (three for three, triple, double, RBI, two runs), Aidan Malm (RBI, two runs) and Jacob Sersansie (two for three, double, two RBIs, two runs).
Charlie Tyus (one for two, run), Jack Gallo (one for two, run) and Noah Neufeld (one for two, RBI) led the UPS offensive attack.
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Crescent Bay Advisors 13, McKenna Porsche 2: CBA overcame an early two-run deficit to defeat McKenna Porsche May 20.
McKenna off to a fast start by scoring twice in the first inning off of hits by Declyn Murray, Ben Dawson, Jackson Kollock and Rex Bradshaw. CBA scored once in the first and five runs in the second to take a 6-2 lead and never looked back.
After the first inning, CBA shut out McKenna on only three hits the rest of the way. Cade Anderton (3 1/3 innings, two runs, six hits three strikeouts) was his consistently effective self and Devon Connelly (1 2/3 innings, one hit, one strikeout) closed the game with a stellar performance.
Hunter Gray led CBA on offense with three shots to the fence, going three for three with a double, three RBIs and scored twice. It was a team effort on offense with the standouts being Connelly (double, two runs), Max Reimers (single, walk, run) and Jacob Sersansie (reached base three times, two runs).
Corwin Allard (2 1/3 innings) and Dawson (1 1/3 innings, two runs, one hit, two walks, two strikeouts) were solid on the mound for McKenna.
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