Historic Run Ends for PPBA All-Stars

Local Mustang 9U Baseball Squad Battles Before Bowing Out of PONY West Zone Tournament

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When the final out was recorded to end one of the best summers ever by any team in the 70-year history of the Pacific Palisades Baseball Association, head coach Taylor Talt gathered his Mustang 9U All-Star squad together and congratulated each of the players for making it further than any of them could have anticipated.

“It was so much of a grind, so much baseball, but you all showed super focus and gave super effort,” Talt said after his team’s 8-3 defeat to eventual-champion Tecolote Red in the PONY West Zone playoffs July 13 at Creekside Park in Walnut. “You proved you can play with any team. This should make you hungrier to come back next year and win.”

The talented roster consisted of 12 of the PPBA’s best: Will Feil, Carter Bergman, Tristan Kawasaki, Cabe Talt, Anthony Layton, Axl Moody, Bennett Underwood, Dylan Morrow, Jack Hetherington, Owen Tyler, Nate Underwood and Maddox Martin.

Palisades was one of only eight teams to advance to the Zone tournament and prevailed in its opening game 12-3 over Rodeo of the Bay Area on July 11, setting up a winner’s bracket semifinal against Cypress, which prevailed 8-5. Facing elimination the following afternoon, Palisades rallied from an early six-run deficit to beat Kauai of Hawaii 10-9 on Kawasaki’s walkoff hit after Layton singled, then stole second and third to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning.   Later that afternoon, Palisades was back at Creekside Park trying to keep its season alive, but Tecolote Red of San Diego dealt the PPBA boys their second loss in the double-elimination format. Still, there was a lot to be proud of, not the least of which was an 11-game winning streak on the way to a 23-6 overall record. Palisades won the Section playoffs in Simi Valley and the Region tournament in Camarillo to earn an automatic bid to the Zone round (skipping the Super Region], one step away from the International World Series in Vacaville.

Taylor Talt credited the chemistry he enjoyed with assistant coaches Matt Underwood and Joe Layton for piloting the team to two wins at the Zone playoffs—joining Coach David Hoffman’s Mustang 9U “Nachos” team in 2022.

“We had a lot of depth at pitching but we also had games  where we hit six doubles in an inning. As we progressed we tightened up our defense, eliminated the errors and stayed aggressive on the bases, giving us a huge advantage over most of the teams we played.”

Coincidentally, all three coaches played sports at USC. Talt was a backup quarterback on the football team in 2000 and 2001; Underwood was a pitcher on the baseball team (2002-06) and Layton was a 400-meter hurdler for the Trojans from 2007-10.    

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