PPBA All-Stars March On

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

It might be premature to call Pacific Palisades Baseball Association’s Mustang 10U All-Star team a juggernaut, but it certainly looked like one throughout last weekend’s PONY Section 3 Tournament at the Field of Dreams.

Coach David Hoffman’s squad outscored its four opponents 50-3 on its way to first place and a berth in this weekend’s Region playoffs at Bob Kildee Park in Camarillo. Palisades crushed Santa Monica 14-2 and blanked Toluca White 14-0 in pool play, shut out Toluca a second time 11-0 in the semifinal round, then wrapped up the championship with an 11-1 rout of Santa Monica.

The semifinal was highlighted by pitcher Henry Wyman, who in one inning struck out the side on 11 pitches (all strikes) as well as a relentless attack paced by the base running of Sam Foster and Max Yost and timely hitting by Perrish McGinn, Isaac Ungerleider and Blake Milinovich.    

In the final, Santa Monica scratched out a run in the top of the first inning but Palisades pulled even in the bottom half when Foster singled, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Milinovich and scored on a wild pitch.

The second inning was scoreless, but after that the home team poured it on thanks to the efforts of Will Hill, Remy Moore, Jackson Moore, Wil Hoffman, Dylan Hartunian, Cy Murphy, Hudson Tucker and Ethan Montminy.

As 9-year-olds last year, the same group of boys, nicknamed the Nachos, was the first PPBA team to advance to the PONY Zone playoffs, a step away from the International World Series. This summer, as 10-year-olds and nicknamed the Blue Crew, they won two tournament titles in June and anticipate another deep run in sanctioned play.

Meanwhile, the PPBA’s Bronco 12U squad also hosted the Section tournament, dropping its semifinal matchup to eventual-champion Santa Monica 9-2 on Sunday. Palisades fell to Santa Monica 11-1 and Oxnard 9-4 in pool play, stayed alive with a 22-7 victory over Agoura on Saturday, then was eliminated by Santa Monica, which blanked Oxnard 15-0 in the final.

Making up the 12U All-Star roster were Elijah Barrett, Knox Chidsey, Isabella Donahue, Max Ehrman, Nikki Erwin, Flynn Gallagher, Josh Glaser, Chase Harding, Tate Jennison, Liam Kamdar, Jay Thakor, Dominic Longo, Jayce Murphy, Malakai Rosen and Connor Stacknick.

Palisades’ 8U All-Stars finished third in their pool at the Region tournament in North Hollywood, barely missing a chance to advance to Super Regions. The 9Us, coached by Darren Wald, advanced to the Super Region tournament in Walnut after finishing 3-2 in Region competition in Camarillo.

The PPBA 11Us, coached by Barry HoAire, also advanced to Super Region action in Escondido upon defeating Camarillo 15-1 in an elimination game Sunday.