Huntington Valley powers up versus West Anaheim in section tournament

Making an appearance at the sectional tournament would seem to be old hat for Huntington Valley Little League.

Coach Tony Armand said that most of his team has played in, and lost, back-to-back sectional championship games.

Now in the 12-and-under division, his team is playing as a group that expects to make it to this point in the All-Star season.

Huntington Valley opened the Section 10 tournament with a simply dominant 16-0 win over West Anaheim at Woodfield Park on Saturday afternoon.

Slater Vaughan, Gage Everson and Gavin Pacheco homered for the local All-Stars, who pounded out 13 hits over just four innings.

“We can just drop tanks and bang,” Everson said when asked about his team’s right-handed power.

He followed up that statement by confidently predicting that his team would make it to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Armand said that his team hopes that this year will be the one where it breaks through the Section 10 final barrier. If successful, Huntington Valley would advance to the state tournament, matching the league’s best finish.

“I’d say this is the toughest section in the country to get through, Section 10,” Armand said. “It’s always hard. This team that I’ve got right here, most of them have been here the last two years.

“We’ve lost in the finals of Section 10 the last two years, so our goal this year is to get farther.”

Only one team will advance from the Section 10 tournament, which is played under the double-elimination format. Huntington Valley will take on Irvine Ranch on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Armand said that his team has the tools to make a deep run. Eleven of the 13 players on the roster can pitch. None of the three pitchers used by Huntington Valley on Saturday threw in the district tournament.

Regardless, Noah Stockman, Vaughan and Pacheco blew away the opposition. They combined to allow just three hits, and 11 of the 12 outs recorded came via the strikeout.

Vaughan had a two-run home run to cap a five-run first inning for Huntington Valley.

“It was definitely easier for us because we had a better advantage with hitting against this team,” Vaughan said of spotting Stockman a sizable lead. “We had better contact, and then our pitching just closed it out.”

The fourth inning belonged to Pacheco. He hit a line drive over the left-field fence to drive in Huntington Valley’s final two runs.

“Being a right-handed batter, if you get an inside pitch, you’ve just got to turn on it and make the best contact that you can,” Pacheco said. “I just keep my hands in and extend through the ball.”

Then he ascended the hill to take over as a relief pitcher. Fernando Armenta, George Perez and Brandon Burleson singled to load the bases with one out, but Pacheco struck out the final two batters he faced to preserve the shutout.

Bradley Morlett had two runs batted in and three runs scored. Everson, Stockman, Vaughan and Pacheco had two-hit performances.

JJ Abellaneda, Tanner Edson, Ian Cadacio and Morlett each had one hit in the Huntington Valley win.

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner