A winter of tragedy turned into a summer of triumph for a resilient group of young players from the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association.
Under the tutelage of head coach Matt Underwood and assistants Chad Martin and Jeremy Elbaum, the league’s Mustang 10U All-Stars advanced to the Super Regionals of the PONY sanctioned playoffs.
The roster included right fielders Nate Underwood and Milo Rotter; left fielders Brady Elbaum and Bowie Thorne; center fielder Dax Skinner; first baseman Tristan Kawasaki; second baseman Maddox Martin; third basemen Ben Underwood and Will Fiel; shortstop Carter Bergman; and catcher Jack Hetherington.
“We were 19-4 in All-Star tournaments and we were 12-2 in sanctions,” Coach Elbaum said. “Six of 11 kids lost their houses in the Palisades Fire. We practiced in Santa Monica. We won the Open (maybe the first Pali team to ever do it) and we won our region. We were two wins away from Zone. We’re coming back next year to win the World Series.”