Living the Dream

PPBA Bronco 12U All-Stars Advance to Round of 16 in Cooperstown Tournament

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

A dream season for the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association’s Bronco 12U All-Stars culminated in a Sweet 16 berth at the annual Dreams Tournament in Cooperstown, New York last Thursday. After finishing undefeated in pool play, then crushing Prolific Power of North Carolina 23-11 in the first round of the playoffs, Palisades found itself matched against Las Vegas Baseball Academy in front of a huge crowd at Dreams Park.

Caden Abraham struck out the cleanup hitter to end the top of the first  and in the bottom half Troy Winkenhower belted a solo home run to give Palisades the early lead. LVBA answered with a homer to lead off the second, but Abraham homered to lead off the bottom half to make it 2-1.

LVBA managed to take a 4-2 lead despite stellar pitching by Finn Johnson and Davis White, but Winkenhower homered again to tie it 4-4 in the sixth. White struck out the No. 7 hitter with a runner on third to end a threat in the eighth, then Johnson singled to load the bases with no outs in the bottom half before a strikeout and a double play sent  the game to the ninth still deadlocked.      

White got two quick ground outs to make it 14 of the last 15 hitters retired. After three straight hits and an error, he got an inning-ending strikeout. Abraham led off the home half  with his third hit, but Palisades’ title hopes ended in a 6-4 loss. It took ninth out of 104 invitees and was the highest-placing community league team.

“That was the best baseball game I’ve ever been a part of,” Palisades Coach Jim Ford said.”  “Our kids battled their tails off against a great team. It was a shame either side had to lose, but we knew we had left everything out there and it just wasn’t quite good enough. After a lot of tears on the way back to the barracks pride overcame disappointment and tears were replaced with smiles as the boys wanted to go pin trade one last time.”

After getting their rings, Palisades players returned that night to watch TriState Arsenal win the championship.

“It’s been an amazing five- year run for these boys,” added Ford, who piloted the Dodgers to a second straight PPBA Bronco title in June. “Numerous tournament championships, two Pony banners, three Super Region appearances, including a final,  and a 51-11 record over the last two seasons. It’s an amazing group of kids and I’ve been privileged to coach them with such good friends in [assistants] Dan Johnson and Daniel White. Most of all we had unbelievably supportive parents who went above and beyond the call of duty. After a tough loss the only finger-pointing on our team was players going to hug each other.”

Prior to Wednesday’s game against Prolific Power, Ford took his team to the Hall of Fame, which he called a ‘must-see’ for  any baseball fan and the players were shocked at the bats, mitts and helmets used in the old days.

Palisades scored 12 runs on eight hits in the first inning, including  two homers by Rowan Jen and two-run blasts by Tommy Farmer and Campbell Ford.

Palisades tacked on five runs in the third on a homer by Winkenhower and another by Jen (his third of the game and fourth in as many at-bats) along with  singles by Jake Grossman and Jack Richman. Winkenhower went three-for-three with five RBIs, Julian Milner made a spectacular catch in left field and Johnson pitched Palisades out of a jam. Ford’s second  dinger, followed by singles from Brendan Gardner and Farmer and a single by Jen (his ninth RBI of the game) ended it in the fifth.

All summer the long ball had  been the team’s biggest weapon and it was again in pool play. Palisades opened the tournament with a round-tripper off the bat of Farmer. Winkenhower, Abraham, White, Richman and Sean Nguyen followed with first-inning homers. Later, Winkenhower homered again, Johnson clouted a grand slam and Abraham, Farmer, Winkenhower and Richman combined on a one-hitter in a 16-1 win against the Ramsey Renegades of New Jersey.

In its second game, Palisades racked up 25 runs in four innings against the Potter Pirates from  Maryland. Abraham had two homers and seven RBIs, Jake Grossman had a two-run homer and four RBIs and Nguyen blasted a grand slam. All 12 players got a hit, an RBI and scored.

On the second day, Abraham had a grand slam, Richman hit two homers and Johnson added one in a 15-3 triumph over the the West Chester Dragons from  Pennsylvania, then Jen, Nguyen and White homered in a shutout of Pappi’s Pride of Maine.

The 12Us won their pool with wins versus the Eagan Wildcats of Minnesota and the Pine Bush Bombers of New York, homering five times in each.

Palisades had 38 homers in eight tournament contests and ended the season with 90 homers and 390 runs scored in 37 games.