It is difficult to defeat a good team three times in one season and the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association’s Mustang 10U All-Star team was trying to do just that Tuesday in the last game of the PONY Section Tournament at the Palisades Recreation Center‘s Field of Dreams.
Troy Winkenhower hit a solo home run to tie it 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning, but East Long Beach took control from that point and earned a berth in the Super Region playoffs with a 9-4 victory — its first win in four tries versus Palisades this season.
“We played pretty well the first couple innings, but we didn’t get enough bats on the ball today and we made a few mistakes,” Coach Jim Ford said. “We got a lot better. We couldn’t beat that team last year and this year we beat them twice and tied them another time. That team won the World Series as 8-year-olds.”
Julian Orozco pitched all six innings and Owen Gott hit two homers for East Long Beach, which joins Section winner Torrance American at the Super Region tournament in San Marcos.
Davis White singled to score pinch runner Julian Milner and Caden Abraham singled home White to cut Palisades’ deficit to 8-3 in the fourth, but East Long Beach added a run in the fifth.
After Sean Nyguen made a diving catch in right field to end the top of the sixth inning, Palisades mounted a rally in the bottom half.
After Abraham reached base on a dropped third strike, Jack Richman walked and Tommy Farmer doubled to score Abraham.
Palisades started the tournament strong thanks to birthday boy Abraham, who pitched 5 2/23 innings with six strikeouts and hit two doubles in last Thursday’s 7-3 victory over Lynwood.
Winkenhower homered to left in the first inning, Abraham stole home in the third and Winkenhower scored on a line drive to first base.
In the fifth, Abraham scored on a fielder’s choice, Jake Grossman scored on White’s RBI single and Winkenhower scored on an errant pick-off throw.
Palisades was forced into a rematch with East Long Beach after falling to Torrance American 12-2 in five innings in the winner’s bracket final Sunday night.
C.W. Ford walked to load the bases and Abraham scored Palisades’ first run on a ball in the dirt. In the fourth, Richman scored from third on an errant pick-off throw Henry Wendorf and Finn Johnson also got hits for Palisades.
Led by Nate Aguilar, who hit 18 homer runs in the regular season, Torrance outscored its three opponents 35-3 to take first place.
Perhaps the most exciting game of the tournament was Palisades’ 6-4 triumph over East Long Beach in the semifinals of the winner’s bracket.
Winkenhower, who walked his first three times up, blasted a towering two-run walk-off homer to left field in the sixth.
“I was just trying to get my bat on the ball and advance the runner,” said Winkenhower, who played for the Orioles in the regular season and attends Corpus Christi School along with teammate Brendan Gardner. “I saw a high pitch, I liked it, I hit it and it went out. I knew I got all of it.”
After Abraham and Richman hit back-to-back doubles to give Palisades a 2-1 lead in the second, Grossman singled to score Finn in the third and Winkenhower’s bases-loaded walk forced home James Rockwell to give Palisades a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
— Steve Galluzzo
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