Green Gators

On 7/9 MB played El Segundo in the championship game. The game started off very slow for us as El Segundo was winning 4-0 after 2 innings on a few timely hits. Momentum started to build for MB as Tommy Bergjans came in to pitch and the team defense was picking up significantly. All of the coaches were preaching to the kids to hang in there as our time will come and you have to play all 6 innings as if the game is 0-0. In the bottom of the 5th with MB losing 5-0 a comeback started as the team started to hit throughout the lineup. It started with a long double by Mike Sandoval and several key hits were delivered by Garrett Fedor, Kyle Demarco and Marcus Probasco in the inning to bring us to a score of 5-3. El Segundo added a run in the 6th inning for a score of 6-3 going into our last at bat. El Segundo changed pitchers and Chris Wilhite started off with a walk and Bryan Afzali hit a sharp single to left center. Garrett Fedor hit a long double scoring Chris Wilhite for a score of 6-4. Kyle Demarco hit a hard grounder to deep 3rd in which the fielder made a strong throw for an out at 1B. Shion Yamashita hit a solid single to center field scoring Bryan from 3rd base for a 6-5 score and stole second base. With runners on 2nd and 3rd MB tried to get the tying run home and the ball just didn’t bounce our way. It was one of those games in which either team could of won and came down to the wire for a thrilling finish. In conclusion we are so proud of our kids for coming together as a team and supporting each other. We told them that their baseball career is just beginning and to look ahead for a bright future and to keep working hard and good things will happen in life. We are trying to organize this team to play in a weekend tournament (7/23) to keep the boys together as they deserve it. Chuck Demarco __________________________ On 7/7 MB played the Rolling Hills All-stars for the right to get into the Championship game versus El Segundo. Brett Collins pitched all 6 innings and MB won the game 6-2. The MB All-stars are starting to gel and becoming a team in which they all support each other and fight hard through the difficult times that occur frequently in Little League Baseball. The team had over 10 hits with several kids getting 2 or 3 hits each and Kyle Demarco added hit a long homer for his second of the tournament. Our overall team defense is not only fun to watch, but I would rank best out of all the ten teams and could possibly fair well at the next level in little league. Mike Sandoval not only hits well, but is as smooth as it comes when fielding difficult grounders and brings a strong arm from shortstop or second base. Garrett Fedor has become an elite catcher and may have found his place in baseball and I have never seen a catcher block more curve balls in the dirt than Garrett. Chuck Demarco __________________________ Last night, the MB Major All Star team defeated Lunada Bay 6-0 behind a strong pitching performance from Kyle Demarco. The game was scoreless in the bottom of the 4th, when Kyle Demarco lead off the inning with a home run to left field. The big blast woke up the MB bats and they rolled on to score 6 run in the 4th inning. Big hits came from Anthony Lombardo, Bret Collins and Michael Sandoval. Shion Yamashita and Michael Sandoval combined to pitch scoreless 5th and 6th innings. Tommy Bergjans and Kyle Farber chipped in with spectacular fielding plays. The MB Major All Stars are off until 7/6, when they will play the El Segundo team at 6:30pm. The game is at George Brett field in El Segundo. The MB Major All Stars will be one of the last 3 teams in the tournament. --Mark Macdonald Manhattan Beach played a tough Lunada Bay team last night. The score was 0-0 after 3 ½ innings when Kyle Demarco hit a home run to give MB a 1-0 lead. The MB bats started to heat up as we scored another 5 runs after that for a 6-0 lead and eventual win. Kyle Demarco pitched 4 innings of shut out ball and we followed with an inning from Shion Yamashita and Michael Sandoval to close out the game. A total team effort was displayed last night as the team played stellar defense along with strong pitching and timely hitting. Another solid catching performance by Garrett Fedor, whom is quickly earning his stripes by protecting the pitchers against pass balls and assisting with pitch selection. Tommy Bergjans had a few great plays at 3B and Kyle Farber made a beautiful catch in center field late in the game that helped MB get the win. Chuck Demarco ______________________ Tom Bergjans pitched a gutty 4 1/3 innings and held Rolling Hills to 4 runs in that duration. Shion Yamashita entered the game in the 5th w/a runner on first base with MB down in the game 4-3, and shut down Rolling Hills creating two pop ups one behind home in which, Garrett Fedor made a nice catch and the other pop up in which Kyle Demarco climbed the fence off of third base making a spectacular catch. Brett Collins gave a strong pitching performance in the 6th to close out the game. We started the top of the 5th MB was down by a run when Kyle Demarco opened up with a double to left center. MB went to the short game with expert bunting from Anthony Lombardo to tie the game. Brett Collins hit a sharp single up the middle for the go ahead run and MB went on to win the game 9-4. MB had 10 hits throughout the game versus solid pitching by Rolling Hills. Chris Wilhite made a strong throw in the 3rd inning from right field and Garrett Fedor made a beautiful sweeping tag on the runner for the out at home which significantly helped stop the RH offensive attack. Strong hitting throughout the lineup created a balanced offensive attack helping the team to the victory. We play this Wed. at 5 PM at the George Brett Field in El Segundo ( take Grand to Eucalyptus ( mk rt) to Pine ( mk rt) and go to the field on the right hand side. This was a solid team effort by the kids for the win. Chuck Demarco

The Manhattan Beach Minor All Stars took 3rd place in the District Tournament Saturday with a final game against Palos Verdes. With a score of 12-11 it couldn't have been a more exciting finish, even though the MB stars came up short. In the 5th inning Kevin Lopez hit a blast with the bases loaded and two out, but in true all star fashion, the PV outfield successfully pulled the ball down just shy of the outfield fence to end the inning. Exceptional defensive play by Grant Southwood, Jack Hadley and Corey Shono kept the MB team in the game and multiple RBI's from Lucas Alexiades and Greg Briskin were key. Cooper Griffith and Logan Goodman each contributed a couple of runs to the MB offense, while it was another notable pitching performance by Grant Chalmers, Greg Whitaker and Philip Prendergast and a solid game behind the plate by catcher Travis Bradford. Out of the 10 teams in the District tournament, the MB All Stars scored more points (59) than any other team in their six tournament games. The boys exhibited good sportsmanship and a high caliber of play throughout the tournament. We want to thank the coaches and the parents for their support and commitment to the boys during this past month of all star play. Every player on the team contributed to help make this a successful all star season and speaking for all the coaches, I can say it was an honor to spend time with this special group of boys! Thanks to our hosts in Redondo Beach and to MBLL for its support. Stephen Prendergast/Manager 9 & 10 Manhattan Beach Minor All Stars ______________________________ The MB Minor Baseball All Stars came out on top Thursday night against a strong Lunada Bay team by a score of 6 - 5. Originally the MB All Stars jumped out to a 5 run lead in the first inning, but even with consistent hitting they were unable to generate another run until the 6th inning. It was an interesting game, with sacrifice fly balls and infield fly balls raining down on two good defensive teams. A tremendous throw by Kevin Lopez from left field to second base for a force out ended an inning and stopped Lunada Bay from scoring. The MB All Stars generated 9 hits on offense and threw out 3 Lunada Bay runners at home plate during the game. At the top of the 6th inning, and even after solid pitching by MB aces Grant Southwood and Greg Briskin, things were not looking good for MB. The game was tied with 0 out and two Lunada Bay runners on base when Philip Prendergast took the mound. Philip struck out two batters and the first half of the inning ended with a third defensive out by the MB All Stars. The MB boys went on to see the winning run cross the plate in the bottom of the 6th for their third straight win in tournament play. Their next game is Saturday at Perry Park in Redondo Beach at 11am, please come out and support the boys as they take on a solid Palos Verdes team for the chance to play in the championship game Monday night. Stephen Prendergast ____________________ The MB Minor Baseball All Stars defeated the North Redondo All Stars Tuesday night 17-2 in 4 innings. The MB Stars allowed no earned runs, or hits, behind a solid pitching performance from Greg Whitaker, Corey Shono and Philip Prendergast. A game turning play was a right field catch by Lucas Alexiades on the run which stunned the North Redondo team and turned the momentum toward MB early in the game. Travis Bradford continues to catch every inning for the MB Stars and had another stellar game both behind the plate and on the bases. The MB All Stars have scored more runs than any other team in the tournament and prepare to play Rolling Hills on Thursday night at Perry Park, 6:30pm. Six of the ten teams in the tournament have now been eliminated. Stephen Prendergast ___________________________ The MB Minor All Stars won their game tonight 12-7 against El Segundo. Another great pitching performance by our left hander Grant Chalmers who went 5.5 innings before being relieved by Grant Southwood to close out the game. The game broke open when Cooper Griffiths hit a triple with the bases loaded to kick start the MB offense. A very wild and crazy game (as the score indicates) and our boys showed good poise at the plate throughout the full 6 innings. Our next game is against South Redondo on Tuesday July 5th at Perry Park, 7:30 pm. We hope to see as many MB fans as possible at this game as we move toward the end of the tournament. Thanks for your support of the MB Minor All Stars! Stephen Prendergast ____________________________ On Monday night the MB Minor All Star team lost to a very strong Silver Spur team by a score of 11-1. The game was tight through the first 3 innings, but several uncharacteristic errors by the MB team allowed Silver Spur to score several runs in the 4th. The MB Minor All Stars will play tonight versus El Segundo at 5pm. ____________________________ Here's a recap of the 9/10 year-old Minors Game against Hermosa Beach that took place Saturday 4:30pm. Our next game is today (Monday) at Perry Park in Redondo Beach at 7:30pm against (a reportedly tough) Silver Spur team. Would love to have you all there to help cheer the boys on! MB Minor All Stars won out over Hermosa Beach in 5 innings with a score of 12-2. This year, Hermosa offered up a strong pitcher. However, our MB boys lit him up with 13 hits in this game. Grant Southwood made a fantastic catch over his shoulder deep in center field and robbed HB of a big play. Grant Chalmers was a standout for us as the left hander pitched all 5 innings and kept them off the bases with only 1 earned run and 8 strike outs. Kevin Lopez threw a bullet from the outfield to help our catcher Travis Bradford successfully tag a runner at the plate. Great bunts from Cooper Griffiths and Lucas Alexiades helped us move players around and Philip Prendergast scored the winning run and hit .750 with 3 RBI's. Truly a team effort with great performances from Corey Shono, Greg Whitaker, Greg Briskin and Jack Hadley. Logan Goodman was flying around the bases with two runs scored as a standout pinch runner. Good luck this week and hopefully we'll see you at Perry Park! --Stephen Prendergast

Click on the image to the right for the schedule and come support your MBLL All Stars!

Click on the image to the right for the schedule and come support your MBLL All Stars!