Cardinals

Here is the latest baseball all-star news (most recent games are at the top of the articles) along with the updated brackets and field directions. The Senior All Star Sectional Brackets are also included in these handouts. MLL Minor All Stars Finish Second in District Tournament On Tuesday Night, the MLL Minor All Star's six game winning streak came to an end with a 9-4 loss to Silver Spur. The team placed second in the elite ten team District Tournament. To the end, the boys played with a lot of heart and never gave up. Congrats to the boys, Manager Jon Smith and Coach Eric Zucker. After losing their first game in the tournament, the boys faced a tough road. They needed to win seven straight games, which District Officials couldn't recall ever being accomplished. The schedule was also working against them. First they faced a week long lay off and then they needed to play five games, including back-to-back games twice, over the next week. In winning six games, MLL won more games than any other team in the tournament (the next best was Silver Spur at four). They were also responsible for eliminating five of the ten teams in the tournament. Winning seven straight games is tough, because a bad bounce, call or luck can come into play at anytime. On Tuesday night it was one bad inning. MLL broke out front in the first on a single by Jack Smith, a double by Jackson Vena and a single by Connor Inlow to score two runs and take a 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, they gave a run back without a hit on a walk, stolen base, fielders choice and wild pitch. In the bottom of the second, Silver Spur filled the bases, with walks on a tight strike zone. An error, and eventually some solid hits, lead to seven Silver Spur runs. Danny Kelleher came in and pitched well, holding Silver Spur to only one more run. MLL put runners on base, but couldn't get them home until the sixth inning when they scored two runs. MLL Minor All Stars Win to Force a Second Championship Game On Sunday, July 16th, the MLL Minor All Stars defeated the Silver Spur All Stars by a score of 7-6 to force a second championship game. Because MLL is coming back through the consolation bracket, they need to defeat Silver Spur twice. The Final Championship game will be played on Tuesday, July 18th at 6pm. (Note the game time may change, so please check the web site.) Good teams have the ability to overcome their mistakes and the MLL Minor All Stars demonstrated that they are a good team. Shaky fielding contributed to six unearned runs, but James Houston pitched five gutty innings and Danny Kelleher struck out the side in the sixth inning for the save. Right away, you knew it was going to be a different day for the MLL Minor All Stars. The team had struggled to score runs in the first inning, but on this day they scored six runs. Justin Schottenhammer started the inning by being hit by a pitch. A Jack Smith triple scored Justin and a Jackson Vena single scored Jack. Thomas Steinke followed with a single and a Danny Kelleher single scored Jackson. A James Houston ground out scored Thomas. Willy Hock reached on an error and Jackson moved to 3rd. A Kyle Zucker sacrifice bunt scored the sixth run. From that point forward, though, MLL found it difficult to score. They had some base runners, and hit the ball hard, but were unable to get the big hit. Palos Verdes also played some great defense, especially the short stop and second baseman. In the 4th inning, MLL was able to scratch out a very important run. With two out, Jackson Vena walked. Thomas Steinke then drove a ball into the right field corner for a triple that scored Jackson. James Houston pitched a beautiful game, but errors of both the physical and mental kind hurt the MLL Stars. PV clawed back into the game on six unearned runs and MLL clung to a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the 6th. Danny Kelleher replaced James on the mound and took the game into his own hands. He struck out the side for the save. MLL 10/11 All Stars place 2nd in District Tournament The MLL 11-Year Old All Star team had a good run, but their luck ran out on Saturday July 15th. Two days after losing a heart breaker on a sliding catch by the El Segundo right fielder, the MLL All Stars lost, again, by a score of 13-4. They placed 2nd in the District Tournament, which contains all the elite teams from District 36. The MLL 10/11-Year Old All Stars were one miraculous play away from a District Championship. Some days nothing goes right and this was one of those days. Every ball El Segundo hit found a whole, while line shots from the MLL team went right at players. Grant Southwood pitched well, but didn't have his good breaking ball to keep El Segundo off balance. MLL's fielding, which had been a strength, had some momentary lapses and that didn't help. The boys played hard and attempted rallies in the 4th and 6th innings, but it wasn't enough. As has been their custom, the boys played with a lot of heart and dignity. The District Administrator also gave them special notice for their sportsmanship. At the team party later that day, it was obvious that some new friendship had been formed by the boys and parents. The boys were great teammates in every sense of the word. Congratulations and kudos to Manager Andy Caine and Coaches Tim Bradford, Dana Southwood and Mark Macdonald. MLL Minor All Stars Advance to Championship Game The MLL Minor All Stars road their hot bats (13 hits) and the strong arm of Jack Smith to victory over the Lunada Bay All Stars. The final score was 12-1 in a game that was shortened to 5 innings because of the mercy rule. The MLL Minor All Stars will battle Silver Spur in the championship game on Sunday, 7/16, at 1pm. As is their custom, the MLL Minor All Stars started out slow and couldn't score in the first inning. They made up for their slow start with six runs in the second inning. Connor Inlow started the second inning with a triple and was driven home by a James Houston single. Gregory French followed with a single and Kyle Cohen pinch ran for Gregory. Both runners moved up on a steal and scored on a 2-run single by Kyle Zucker. Jack Smith singled and Jackson Vena drove home a run with a double. Thomas Steinke finished off the inning with a 2-run single. In the 4th inning, the MLL Minor All Stars put another three runs on the board. Justin Schottenhammer started the inning with a single followed by a Jack Smith single. A Thomas Steinke single drove home 2 runs. Danny Kelleher reached on an error and Connor Inlow drove home a run with a single. In the 5th, MLL put their final three runs on the board. Gregory French reached on an error. A Kyle Zucker sacrifice bunt advanced Gregory and Justin Schottenhammer drove home a run with a single. A Jack Smith single drove home the final two runs. On the mound, Jack Smith pitched 5 innings of one run baseball. He only gave up three hits and was supported with error free defense. MLL 10/11 All Stars Lose a Close Game As has been their custom, the MLL 10/11 All Stars took their game versus El Segundo down to the last out. This time, though, the MLL team came out on the short end when the El Segundo Right Fielder made a sliding grab of a Jack Hadley line drive with runners on 2nd and 3rd. The final score was 5-4. The same two teams meet, again, on Saturday (10am) at the Rolling Hills Little League Field. El Segundo jumped out front in the top of the 2nd inning on a 3-run home run. The score stayed at 3-0, until the bottom of the 4th. With two outs, MLL strung together a Philip Prendergast single, Michael Gottman walk and then consecutive RBI singles from Kevin Lopez, Grant Southwood and Greg Briskin to tie the score at 3-3. El Segundo came right back in the top of the 5th with a 2-run home run. MLL added a run in the bottom of the 5th on consecutive singles by Jack Hadley, C Mac and Philip Prendergast. Philip Prendergast pitched a scoreless top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, Grant Southwood walked and moved to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt from Cooper Griffith. With two out, Travis Bradford drew a walk and runners moved up to 2nd and 3rd on a pass ball. Jack Hadley lined a shot to right field and the right fielder made a great catch. Philip Prendergast pitched all 6 innings for the MLL team. With the exception of a couple of big home runs, he was great. The entire MLL team fielder their positions well with no errors. The one constant is that the entire team played with a lot of heart and great sportsmanship. MLL Minor All Stars Defeat Rolling Hills to Advance in District Tournament The MLL Minor All Stars used a balanced hitting attack and strong pitching from Danny Kelleher, Jack Payne and Connor Inlow to defeat RHLL by a score of 11-2. The Minor All Stars play again tonight at 5pm versus Lunada Bay. They are one of the three remaining teams in the District Minor All Star Tournament. It was truly a team victory, as all the boys contributed to the hitting attack. Danny Kelleher pitched 3+ innings on hot muggy night. Jack Payne entered the game in the 4th with the bases loaded and one out and proceeded to get out of the inning without giving up a run. Connor Inlow went the last two innings for the Save. MLL Minor All Stars Defeat Palos Verdes The MLL Minor All Stars showed a lot heart in rallying to defeat the PVLL Minor All Stars on Tuesday night (7/11). The game went seven innings with MLL winning by a score of 10-6. James Houston pitched five strong innings and the whole team contributed to a hitting attack that scored seven runs over the last two innings. In the top of the 4th, PVLL was leading 2-0, when MLL scored a run on singles by Connor Inlow and Thomas Steinke. In the top of the 5th, MLL moved in front by a score of 3-2 on a single by Willy Hock and an RBI double by Justin Schottenhammer. Justin moved up to 3rd on a ground out and scored on a pass ball. PVLL tied the score in the bottom of the 5th. In the top of the 6th, MLL put three runs on the board when Connor Inlow was hit by a pitch, James Houston singled and Gregory French delivered a clutch 2-run double. Willy Hock singled to score Gregory and MLL had a 6-3 lead. But it was not going to be easy for the MLL team. In the bottom of the 6th, after a few runners reached base an error let in a couple of runs and PVLL was able to tie the score at 6-6. In the top of the 7th, MLL put their mistakes behind themselves and scored four runs. Justin started the inning with a single. Jackson Vena doubled and Thomas Steinke walked to load the bases. Danny Kelleher then drove home two runs with a single. A Connor Inlow ground out and James Houston single brought in two more runs. Jack Smith pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh to secure the win. The MLL Minor All Stars play again on Thursday night (7/13) at Perry Park. Game time is 5pm. MLL Majors All Stars Eliminated from District Tournament The MLL Major All Star team lost to Lunada Bay by a score of 6-3 on Monday night in a game that could have gone either way. It was a well played game by both teams. If a couple of line drives were a few inches left or right, the outcome could have been different. The MLL Major All Stars played with a lot of heart and dignity against a very strong opponent. Congratulations and kudos to Manager Mark Pavone and coaches Mike Sandoval, Gus Cardenas and Bob Collins. They finished the District Tournament with a 2-2 record. The MLL Major All Stars jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd on the strength of a home run from Ian McLoughlin. That was Ian's second home run of the tournament. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Lunada Bay came back with several singles to score three runs. In the top of the 3rd, a single by Chris Wilhite and double by Anthony Lombardo scored a run. Lunada Bay added a single run in the bottom of the 3rd. In the top of the 5th, MLL scored a single run to bring them within one run at 4-3. Lunada Bay scored two runs in the bottom of the 5th inning, though, and moved out to a 6-3 lead. MLL put the first two runners on base in the top of the 6th, but couldn't bring them home. The last out was a diving stop of a Chris Wilhite live drive by the Lunada Bay first baseman to end the game. Chris Wilhite and Ryan Barney pitched well against a strong hitting Lunada Bay team. Anthony Lombardo was 3-3 at the plate and Chris Wilhite scored two runs. Congratulations MLL Junior All Stars!! They are the District 36 Champs! Manhattan 11 Central Redondo 3 MLL Major All Stars Defeat South Redondo 10-6 The MLL Major All Stars scored nine runs over the last two innings and defeated the SRLL All Stars 10-6 on Saturday morning (7/8) at Perry Park. The Major All Stars play again on Monday night at 5pm versus Lunada Bay. Perseverance was the story of the game, as MLL had to overcome the frustration of stranding 10 runners on base only to see SRLL score easily with big home runs. SRLL jumped off to a quick lead on a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 1st inning. MLL added a run on a home run from Ian McLoughlin, but found themselves trailing 2-1 in the top of the 5th. They had been hitting the ball hard, and had base runners, but couldn't get the big hit. That all was about to change. In the top of the 5th, Chris Wilhite doubled and Anthony Lombardo singled to tie the score. RB was hit by a pitch and both runners moved up on a steal. A single by Ian plated two runs and put MLL up 4-2. But this wasn't going to be any easy win for the MLL team. In the bottom of the 5th, SRLL filled the bases on an error, walk and hit batter. The next batter hit a grand slam home run to put MLL down 6-4. The MLL Major All Stars came right back. In the top of the 6th, Christian Rogers started the rally with a single, RB walked and a Chris Wilhite singled to bring home Christian. RB then scored on a wild pitch to tie the score. A double by Morgan Ascher scored Chris Wilhite to give MLL the lead at 7-6. Brett Clark singled to move Morgan to 3rd and stole second to put runners at 2nd and 3rd. A Ryan Erickson triple drove home two runs. Ryan Erickson eventually scored on a wild pitch to put MLL up 10-6. RB pitched an uneventful 6th inning for the save. Anthony Lombardo pitched four strong innings with Ian McLoughlin and RB finishing up. At the plate, Christian, Chris, Morgan, Anthony and Ian each had two hits. Chris Wilhite and Ryan Erickson each scored two runs. Manhattan Beach 10/11 Year Old All Stars Advance to Championship Game!
They don't like to make it easy on their parent's collective hearts, but the 10/11 MLL All Stars have shown the ability to win close games. On Saturday morning, July 8th, at the Rolling Hills Little League field, they defeated El Segundo in a game that was not decided until the final out. The final score was 3-2. The 10/11 MLL Stars will play in the Championship game on Thursday July 13th at 5pm. Their opponent has not yet been decided. Grant Southwood was the star of this game pitching 5 innings of 1-run ball on a hot muggy day. It wasn't easy, as he had trouble locating his fast ball. Fortunately, he had a good curve ball, which kept the El Segundo batters off balance. Solid play by the MLL infield helped. The MLL outfielders, at one point, looked bored, but that was going to change quickly. In the bottom of the 1st, MLL put three runs on the board on a walk to Travis Bradford and consecutive singles by Jack Hadley and C Mac. Kevin Lopez pushed home a run on a 4-3 groundout. And Alex Williams scored C Mac with a swinging bunt single. At that point, the MLL coaches thought there would be many more runs, but they were wrong. El Segundo brought in Jake Carter and he shut MLL down. There were some base runners and hard hit balls, but MLL couldn't get the big hit. El Segundo scratched out a run versus MLL in the 5th on a walk and two groundouts. In the 6th, MLL brought in their closer, Jack Hadley. A double and walk put runners at 1st and 2nd. A chopper over the mound was misplayed for MLL's first error of the game, which pushed across El Segundo's 2nd run. Alex Williams made a nice play in LF on a high pop-up. And then came the play of the game. On a hard single to RF, Kevin Lopez came up throwing. He hit cut-off man, 2nd baseman Cooper Griffith, perfectly and Cooper turned and fired a shot to catcher Travis Bradford to get the runner trying to score from second. The thrills were far from over. On a 3-1 count, El Segundo batter Brennan Chance lifted a fly to RF. Kevin Lopez hustled over and got a glove on the ball, but it fell out. The ball was barely foul and the two El Segundo runners, who had raced home, were sent back to 2nd and 3rd. Chance walked on the next pitch and MLL was faced with a bases loaded, 2-out, situation. After running the count to 2-2, the batter hit a soft grounder to 2nd that Cooper scooped up and threw to Greg Briskin at 1st for the victory. Pitching and fielding were the story of the game. Jack Hadley had a great game at short stop. First baseman, Greg Briskin caught everything thrown his way and dug a tough throw out of the dirt. Michael Gottman made a couple of nice plays at 3rd and Grant field his pitcher position superbly. Manhattan Beach Minor All Stars Defeated the Central Redondo Minor All Stars 19-0 on Friday July 7th. Their next game is Tuesday July 11th versus Palos Verdes at 5pm. After a week long lay-off, the MLL Minor All Stars came out on a mission and defeated the North Redondo All Stars by a score of 19-7 (July 6th). The Minor Stars used big innings in the 3rd and 6th and strong pitching from Danny Kelleher and James Houston to win. The game started out rather frustrating for the MLL Minor All Stars. In the first inning, Kyle Zucker walked, but was doubled off first on a line shot back to the pitcher off the bat of Justin Schottenhammer. Jack Smith followed with a double, but was left stranded at 3rd base. Again, in the second inning, a runner was doubled off first on a line shot back to the pitcher and the Minor All Stars were feeling a bit jinxed. Meanwhile, Danny Kelleher was pitching great. He had to deal with some base runners, but only gave up one run over the first two inning. The top of the North Redondo batting order was full of very strong hitters. After two innings, the MLL Minor All Stars were down 1-0. In the top of the 3rd, the MLL Minor All Stars busted loose with nine runs. North Redondo was very resilient and fought back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 3rd. MLL put up 10 more runs, though, and James Houston came in and shut the door in the 6th. James Houston also made an outstanding catch in right field. Everybody on the MLL Minor team contributed to the offensive attack. Jack Smith went 4-5 with two doubles, Jackson Vena was 3-5, Justin Schottenhammer, Danny Kelleher and Connor Inlow each had two hits. All the boys deserve special praise for being very patient at the plate and running the bases well. The MLL Minor All Stars play tonight, July 7th, at 7:30pm versus Central Redondo Little League. All the games are at Perry Park and the directions are linked below. Manhattan Beach Major All Stars defeated the Hermosa Beach All Stars on Wednesday night, July 5th, by a score of 11-0 in a game shortened to 4 innings because of the mercy rule. Chris Wilhite pitched 4 excellent innings and added 2 hits and 2 runs to the offensive attack. Ryan "RB" Barney had two hits, including a home run. Anthony Lombardo went 3 for 3 with two doubles. The MLL Major All Stars play again on Saturday morning, July 8th, at 9am versus the South Redondo All Stars at the Perry Park field. The first two Hermosa Beach hitters reached base with hits, but were quickly erased. Ian McLoughlin threw to 3rd baseman Ryan Erickson to get one runner trying to steal. Then shortstop RB threw to Erickson, again, to get the 2nd runner trying to advance on an infield grounder. From that point forward, Chris Wilhite pitched perfectly. He didn't allow any hits or walks and struck out 8 of the final 10 Hermosa Beach batters that he faced. At the plate, everybody contributed to the offensive attack. Anthony had three hits; RB and Chris contributed two hits each; and Cooper Pugnale, Ian McLoughlin, Morgan Ascher, Christian Rogers, and Brendan Vinnecombe added single hits. Ryan Erickson was HBP, scored a run and added an RBI. The Hermosa Beach center fielder made a valiant attempt to catch RB's home run, but it fell out of his glove and just over the fence. The Manhattan Beach 10/11 All Star team got their tournament off to a good start on July 3rd with a thrilling 4-3 victory over the Rolling Hills Little League team at the Rolling Hills field. The game was decided on a 2-out RBI single from Travis Bradford in the bottom of the 6th inning. The game represented everything good about Little League with gutty performances, good sportsmanship and positive coaching by both teams. Manhattan Beach jumped out to an early lead with back-to-back-to back singles by Jack Hadley, Christian Macdonald (AKA C Mac) and Philip Prendergast. Philip's single plated a run and Grant Southwood added a sacrifice fly to put Manhattan Beach out front 2-0. RHLL took a 3-2 lead with a single run in the top of the 2nd and two runs in the 3rd. Solid fielding by RHLL kept MBLL off the board until the bottom of the 5th. In the 5th, Jack Hadley, C Mac and Philip Prendergast strung together singles, again, to tie the score at 3-3. In the bottom of the 6th, Kevin Lopez lead off with a single. Greg Briskin pinch ran for Kevin. He moved up to second on a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Connor Caine. A bloop single by Connor Mathews moved Greg to 3rd. After a strike out, Travis lifted a ball over the head of the shortstop, and just in front of the charging left fielder, for the game winning hit. It was truly a team victory for the 10/11 team , as every player contributed. Connor Mathews, Kevin Lopez, Jack Hadley Phillip Prendergast and C Mac had two hits each. Alex Williams, Cooper Griffith and Connor Caine each added single hits. Grant Southwood hit the ball hard all three times, but was put out with great plays. In the field, the MBLL team faced many bases loaded situations, but only gave up three runs. Travis Bradford caught all six innings and made two outstanding plays at the plate for outs. The first a reaching grab of a throw from Jack Hadley for a force out. The second, a flip to Connor Mathews on a wild pitch to get a runner coming from 3rd. Greg Briskin, Cooper Griffith and Michael Gottman all played flawless defense. Alex Williams, Kevin Lopez, Connor Mathews and Greg Briskin all deserve special mention for battling with the tough late afternoon sun. Philip Prendergast pitched 3 gutty innings. The hits he gave up were "flares" and "squibbers." Connor Mathews, Jack Hadley and Grant Southwood each pitched one shut out inning. The Manhattan Beach 10/11 team will play again on Saturday morning, July 8th, at 10am. Mark Macdonald, MLL VP, Baseball

In what may be the greatest accomplishment of his term as MLL president, Dennis Kane finally figured out that lucky breaker #13 in the Live Oak scorebooth controls the power to the Live Oak scoreboard.

Today's softball 10 year-old All-star game was announced by 18 month-old Pete Paguyo, grandson of District 36 Official, Wayne Curtis. Golden-throated Larry Humphrey filled briefly in when Pete had to take his nap.

Found: Tuesday evening, June 13, 2006 at American Martyrs baseball field, an adult size Rawlings baseball glove, black. There is no name or other ID information on the glove. We withheld some info so taht you can identify. If you lost this glove, contact Steve Alexander at (310) 546-2753.

Please see the attached handouts for the All-star brackets and Western Region Tournament calendars.