Jewel City-JWV Minor baseball shuts out Burbank for title
GLENDALE — Solid pitching and defense guided the Jewel City/Jewish War Veterans Cubs to the District 16 Tournament of Champions Minor baseball championship on Sunday.
The Cubs held the Burbank Dodgers to just one hit in a 3-0 victory at Pacific Park.
Burbank pitched well also, allowing three hits, but never got the hit needed to take advantage of eight walks.
Josiah Saroughian picked up two of the three hits for Jewel City/JWV, including a single in the second that scored the game’s first run.
“I can tell you I’ve worked this team harder than any team I’ve ever had,” said Jewel City coach Adam Aparicio, whose team finishes the year 22-1. “They’re good kids. There are no bullies and there are no superstars.
“One coach told me ‘you don’t have the best players’ and I said ‘I don’t need the best players, I need the right players,’ and I have the right players.”
Select players from both teams will play in the District 16 All-Star Tournament.
“Their defense was on,” Burbank coach Chris Montgomery said. “They turned around and made some spectacular catches.”
The Cubs used three pitchers: Isaac Saroughian, Noah La Porte and Josiah Saroughian. La Porte went 3 2/3 innings, striking out eight, walking six and allowing just one hit en route to picking up the win. He relieved Isaac Saroughian, who pitched the first inning.
The Cubs loaded the bases in the first two innings and managed to get just one run on Josiah Saroughian’s single, scoring Fisher Gates.
Burbank’s Kayson Montgomery pitched 2 1/3 before being relieved on a 2-0 count to Soren Khitikian, who singled home Isaac Saroughian to increase the Cubs’ lead to 2-0.
Kayson Montgomery struck out four and walked six.
“I thought our pitching was phenomenal,” Chris Montgomery said. “Kayson is probably the best pitcher in the district.”
Jewel City added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a passed ball from Nicolas Hernandez. The three runs would be more than enough to secure the title.
“We could’ve taken it easy since they were going to be out of pitchers tomorrow, but we went for it today,” Aparicio said. “We didn’t pull any punches.”