Los Alamitos Youth Baseball’s All Stars achieved their only win of the PONY Baseball Bronco World Series against Los Mochis, Mexico on Aug. 2 at Wells Fargo Field in Los Alamitos.
Los Alamitos Youth Baseball’s All Stars achieved their only win of the PONY Baseball Bronco World Series against Los Mochis, Mexico on Aug. 2 at Wells Fargo Field in Los Alamitos.
Los Alamitos hit two homers out of the park on their way to a 13-9 victory. Saturday’s game started off a bit shaky for the Los Al boys allowing four runs in the first inning.
Mexico batted impressively in the early moments of the game, and hit a couple homers in a row to open up the lead for them.
The momentum was with Mexico early on, but Los Al hacked and harried back with base hits and got them on the scoreboard in the third inning.
“C’mon Los Al lets rally,” yelled Manager Joe Keith as his squad ran in their first run of the night. Mexico’s throw to home plate was a bit low for the Mexican catcher and Los Al’s Joel Castillo's slide was ruled safe.
Los Al finished off the third inning with a couple more runs and landed themselves just two runs shy of tying the game.
Sebastian McSherry was the first Los Al player to hit a homer out of the park that day. Seconds before his up at bat, McSherry looked at ease in the on-deck area. He was spinning and catching his bat with calm swiftness.
Grinning as he rounded third base, McSherry’s homer sparked the momentum to shift to Los Al’s dugout.
In the fifth inning, Kurren Brandel stepped up first to the plate and answered his teammate’s call with a home run of his own well beyond the right outfield wall.
Brandel’s hit gave Los Al their first lead of the night, but the ballplayers from Sinaloa didn’t go away.
Mexico rallied in the bottom of the sixth, and took a three-run lead with only an inning left for Los Alamitos at bat. Los Alamitos proved well-abled for the task at hand and hit accurate line drives through the gaps in Mexico’s outfield late in the game.
An error by Mexico’s shortstop Jose Roman, allowed Los Al’s Michael Wilbur to score from third base at the top of the seventh inning. Wilbur’s run proved only the start of things to come.
Decisive singles from Luke Hansard and Wilbur later on in the inning would keep Los Al’s scoring rally going until the to-be 13-9 final score.
After struggling in the sixth, pitcher Anthony Valdez cooled his head in the bottom of the seventh and handed his team two strikeouts, a ground out, and the victory.
Los Al’s success was short-lived however as they suffered their final and second defeat to Taipei, Taiwan the next evening.
Los Alamitos suffered a 7-0 defeat Sunday afternoon against Taiwan in a spirited effort. Despite the scoreless loss they weren’t able to keep at bay against the Taiwanese throughout the tournament. Los Al scored a single run in their defeat to Taiwan in the first game of the series.
Taiwan would go on to lose in the next game against the would-be series champions Puerto Rico by a score of 5-1. Puerto Rico landed itself a spot in the final after the win, and so did Santa Monica after its back-and-forth series with the team from Royal Palm Beach, Florida.
Puerto Rico outscored Santa Monica, 15-9 in the final of the series crowning themselves as this year’s PONY Baseball, Bronco Division World Series champions.