
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
The Pali Waves represented the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association well last week in the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament at Cooperstown Dreams Park in New York.

Photo: Mike Tatum
The squad of local Bronco all-stars won six of its seven games to finish in the top 16 out of 104 teams. The roster consisted of Marty Kaplan, Skyler Chang, Andrew Citron, Jack Gurevitch, Lucas Herman, Dylan Tatum, Owen Roy, Holden Gering, Henry Roth, Oliver Yi, Alex Denham, Truman Pauley, Jack Bowden and Eli Weinbach.

Photo: Mike Tatum
The tournament began with several skills contests and Roy hit a home run in the “King of Swat” competition. Citron took second place in the “Road Runner” competition in 12.64 seconds and Pauley represented the Waves in the “Golden Arm” competition. Palisades finished in the middle of the pack in the “Around the Horn” competition in 32.94
The Waves went 6-0 in pool play and were seeded seventh in the elimination round. They began with a 14-2 victory over the Warriors of Georgia, then defeated the Sarasota Stings of Florida, 9-7, behind the pitching of Pauley and Kaplan’s two-run walk-off homer.
In their third game against the Plainfield Raiders of Illinois, the Waves prevailed 20-6 and next was a 17-5 victory over the Gorc Wildcats of Maryland.

Photo: Mike Tatum
The Waves wrapped up pool play with a 26-2 rout of the Currituck Thunder of North Carolina and a 17-5 triumph over the Horsham Hounds of Pennsylvania.
Palisades began the knockout phase with a 15-14 victory over the Carolina Raiders from North Carolina on Citron’s grand slam in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Waves’ run ended with a 26-14 loss to the Motor City Hit Dogs of Michigan in the round of 16. Elite Squad-Legends of Florida beat WFBA Blue of Texas 7-5 in the championship game.
Also making the trip east was first-time umpire “Little Craig,” who didn’t work any of the Waves’ games but still earned high marks on his umpire report card.
The PPBA’s Mustang 10U and Bronco 12U all-stars host the PONY SoCal West Region sectionals July 14-19 at the Field of Dreams. The Pintos advanced to this week’s Section playoffs while 9Us and 11Us are in the District playoffs next week in Torrance.
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