After falling behind by 10 runs in the first inning of Sunday’s PONY West Zone championship game, it would have been easy for the Cooperstown Bronco 12U All-Stars to phone in defeat and be satisfied with second place in the eight-team tournament at York Field in Whittier.
Instead, they showed the heart, focus and determination that carried them further than any team in the long history of the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, pulling to within two runs in the sixth inning and battling to the final out of a 13-11 loss to La Quinta.
“Last year or the year before if we go down by 10 runs, we’re done—it’s a mercy,” co-coach Mitchell Chang said. “This is a special, tough-minded group of 15 players who have learned how to grind it out when behind and keep the pedal down when ahead. Today we needed three pitchers to get out of the first inning, but we put ourselves in a position to win with the tying runs on base in the seventh [inning] and that’s all you can ask. The ball just didn’t bounce our way in the end.”
Despite missing its manager Stephen Kaplan and three key players (Marty Kaplan, Andrew Citron and Eli Weinbach) for the Zone playoffs, Palisades reeled off four straight wins and came within two victories of reaching the International World Series.
After suffering a 4-2 loss to Kauai of Hawaii in last Thursday’s opener, Palisades rebounded to blank host Whittier 18-0 and route Scottsdale of Arizona 10-3 on Friday under the guidance of Chang and his fellow coaches, Scott Denham and Steve Yi.
“The hardest part was having to play two games back-to-back for two straight days in extreme heat,” Chang said. “That’s what it took to get to the finals, but the boys never stopped believing.”
Jack Gurevitch had four hits and Dylan Tatum had four RBIs against Whittier. Henry Roth had a triple and a home run against Scottsdale while Skyler Chang struck out four batters in the last two innings to preserve the win.
On Saturday morning, Palisades took a 6-1 lead in the second inning on its way to a 12-5 triumph over San Francisco. Lucas Herman had four hits (one a homer) and seven RBIs, Gurevitch added three hits, Truman Pauley and Tatum pitched three innings apiece and Garon Maxon pitched the last frame to close out the win.
On Saturday afternoon, the Cooperstown kids had a rematch with Kauai for a berth in the finals and Palisades made the most of its second chance, out-hitting the Hawaiian squad 14-4 and plating five runs in the fifth inning to prevail 8-1 and emerge from the loser’s bracket. Holden Gering walked twice and stole three bases. Skyler Chang had three hits (including a homer) and four RBIs while pitchers Pauley and Jack Bowden combined for the victory.
La Quinta, which had edged Palisades 3-2 in the Super Region finals a week before, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the top of the first Sunday, but Skyler Chang led off the bottom of the inning with a homer to ignite a three-run rally and start the comeback.
“After losing the first game we knew we could do it if we just had to play together,” said Chang, who begins seventh-grade at Windward School this fall. “We’ve all been playing together since we were 7 so we’ve spent a lot of time with each other. We have good teamwork and we pick each other up. It was exhausting having to play that many games, but that’s what we had to do.”
Palisades crept closer with two runs in the third, but La Quinta countered with three in the top of the fourth to take a 13-5 lead. In the bottom half, Roth singled and stole second, Chang walked and Tatum hit a two-run double. Gurevitch doubled to scored Tatum, then scored from third on an error.
Oliver Yi made a diving catch in right field to end the top of the fifth and the PPBA All-Stars turned four double plays to keep the margin from growing. Maxon snared a comebacker in front of the mound and tossed to second baseman Tatum, who touched the bag and fired to Owen Roy at first to end the top of the sixth.
After Herman blasted a two-run homer to pull Palisades within two runs in the bottom of the sixth, Skyler Chang, Tatum and Roy turned a 4-6-3 double play to end a La Quinta threat in the seventh.
Palisades got runners to first and third against closer Eliazar Fregoso, who got two strikeouts and a ground out to keep La Quinta unbeaten in 18 games this summer.
Catcher Alex Denham, a seventh-grader at Paul Revere Middle School, summed up Palisades’ success best: “It’s our chemistry and confidence. We never give up. When we fall behind like we did today, we chip away, we get baserunners and take it one pitch at a time.”
Palisades earned the respect of La Quinta manager Memo Castaneda, whose team beat Corona to win the District title and beat Valleywide in the Section finals.
“Palisades is hands-down the best team we’ve played in any of our four tournaments,” he said after praising the effort of both finalists during the post-game medal ceremony. “Every kid in their lineup can hit. That last inning was our championship. We went all in because we didn’t want to play them again.”
Sunday’s exciting finale ended an incredible journey for the PPBA Bronco 12Us, who began the All-Star season at a USSSA tournament in May, took second place at the Long Beach tournament in early June and won seven of eight games to finish in the top 16 out of 104 teams at the American Youth Baseball Hall of Fame Invitational Tournament in Cooperstown, New York.
The team won 25 of 35 games, scored 431 runs, allowed 233 runs and won 13 games by 10 runs or more. Only two teams, East Long Beach Red and La Quinta, managed to beat Palisades twice.
— Steve Galluzzo
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