LAGUNA NIGUEL : Pony All-Stars Take 4th in Tournament

The streak is over.

The Laguna Niguel Pony League baseball all-stars were eliminated from post-season play this weekend, taking fourth out of nine teams at the Southern California regional tournament in San Diego.

That finish wasn’t good enough to advance the 14-year-olds to the zone level of competition, but the players and coaches said they weren’t too disappointed.

After all, this was the best showing of any Laguna Niguel Pony Leagueall-star team in 15 years.

“We’re pretty happy with the success,” said team manager Tom Grzecka, who said the players are already looking forward to their first high school baseball season next spring. “Sure I wish we were still playing, but we had a good run.”

Laguna Niguel came out strong in their first game of the regional tournament Friday night, soundly defeating El Cajon, 11-5, behind five innings of strong pitching by Curt Rodriguez.

The tables were turned Saturday, though, as Laguna Niguel lost, 20-11, to East Hills.

Sunday morning, Laguna Niguel squeaked by Chula Vista, a San Diego team, 5-4.

The team’s second and final loss came Sunday night against Corona, 11-7.