Two years after the Irvine PONY 6U Shetland All-Stars won
the World Series, the core of that group is back again for another run. Now the
8U Pinto Kid Pitch A All-Stars, the boys are poised for a strong run through the
pre-All-Star and All-Star tournaments. Managed by Rick Ganulin and coached by
Dave Goldstein, Mike McMullen and Lou Nemeth, they got off to a strong start
this weekend by taking first place in the Irvine PONY Memorial Day
Tournament (the
largest PONY Memorial Day tournament in the country, featuring 180 teams from all over California and Mexico).
The boys kicked off the tournament with a 7-6 nail biter against Mexico-Culican. The scoring opened when Aidan Klimon ripped a one-out double past the diving second basemen. This was followed by RBI hits by Anthony Nemeth, Connor Kentros and an RBI walk by Andy Park to stake Irvine to a five run lead. But Mexico was undaunted as they scored four in the bottom of the first inning on four hits and a walk. The game see-sawed back and forth and was knotted at six at the top of the fourth inning when Kentros led off with a stand-up triple. An error on the play by the normally stout Mexico defense led to Kentros scoring to give Irvine a 7-6 lead. The teams traded scoreless half-innings and Mexico came up in the bottom of the fifth needing to tie or win it. Irvine A sent Mick Hyodo to the mound to hold the lead; he struck out the first batter, but a walk and an error put the tying run on second and the winning run on first. Mexico hit into a fielder’s choice and ended up with runners at first and third with two outs. Mexico’s number four hitter came to the plate with a chance to tie or win the game, but Hyodo struck him out on six pitches to end the game and preserve the victory. Pitchers Jakob Ho, Grant Lockwood, Trevor Klein and Hyodo combined for a five-hit victory. Klimon went 1 for 3 with a double and 2 RBIs; Nemeth went 2 for 2 with a double and 2 RBIs and Kentros went 2 for 2 with a triple and an RBI.
Irvine A went on to dominate La Crescenta 18-1 in their second game. Pitchers Park, Justin Goldstein, Will Rudy and Klimon combined to pitch a real gem, holding La Crescenta to 1 run on 1 hit. Klein went 3 for 3 with a double, triple and 3 RBIs; Park went 1 for 3 with a triple and 2 RBIs; Hyodo went 2 for 3 with a double and 3 RBIs; and Ho went 2 for 2 with a walk and 2 RBIs.
In the semi-final game, Irvine A dispatched the Tustin Mets 14-4. The closest that Tustin got was 8-4 at the bottom of the third inning, but then Irvine buckled down and ripped off six unanswered runs over the next three innings to earn a berth in the championship game. Jamie McMullen went 1 for 1 with 3 walks; Goldstein went 2 for 4 with 4 RBIs; Ho went 1 for 3 with a double, a walk and 2 RBIs; Hyodo went 1 for 2 with a double, a walk and 3 RBIs; Klein went 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs and Park went 2 for 3 with a double. Pitchers Nemeth, Martine and Klein combined to hold the Mets to 4 runs on 9 hits.
The championship game was somewhat anti-climatic as the boys reeled off five runs in the first inning and never looked back on their way to a 9-0 blanking of Mexico-Los Mochis. Klimon went 2 for 3 with a double and 3 RBIs, Kentros went 1 for 2 with a double and an RBI, Hyodo went 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI. Again, the Irvine A pitchers (Rudy, Klimon and Hyodo) combined to pitch another gem; this time a 3-hit shutout.
Irvine A is Justin Goldstein, Jakob Ho, Mick Hyodo, Connor Kentros, Trevor Klein, Aidan Klimon, Grant Lockwood, Grant Martine, Jamie McMullen, Anthony Nemeth, Andy Park and Will Rudy.
