Giants

Last night the Senior baseball team was eliminated. Congratulations to the entire team and coaches for a great accomplishment. Finishing in 5th place in Southern California in the 1st year of the Senior program. Thanks to All, Rick Weber ___________________________ The Seniors team left Bellflower victorious and will represent California Section 3 in San Bernadino in the

California Division 3 playoffs. The brackets are included in this article and maps and hotel info can be found at the host District 43 web site. ____________________________ Seniors are in the championship game of section and need to be beat twice. Seniors won again on Saturday and play Monday evening Rick Weber _________________ Baseball Seniors won by mercy rule Friday over San Pedro and are playing again today Rick Weber _________________ BEING PLAYED AT RUTH CARUTHERS PARK IN THE CITY OF BELLFLOWER. FIELD IS LOCATED ON FLORA VISTA JUST EAST OF WOODRUFF AVE. FROM YOUR AREA I WOULD TAKE THE 91 FREEWAY EAST TO BELLFLOWER BLVD. GO NORTH TO FLOWER AND TURN RIGHT. FLOWER TURNS INTO FLORA VISTA AT WOODRUFF AVE. FOLLOW EAST TO END TURN INTO PARKING LOT AND GO TO END. FIELD IS ON THE RIGHT.

Juniors tried their best, but lost in the championship game. Better luck next year, guys! Rick Weber _______________ Juniors won tonight behind the strong pitching of Lucas Whitehill and face San Pedro in the finals tomorrow. They will have to win twice. Rick Weber _______________ Juniors lost a heartbreaker last night to a very strong San Pedro team 4-3 and will play again Wednesday. _________________________ Baseball Juniors won 8-2 over Greater Bellflower and play Monday at 6pm Rick Weber _______________ Manhattan Beach will represent District 36 in the Juniors League (13/14 Year-old) Baseball All-Stars tournament. Play starts Saturday on La Cienega in Beverly Hills. Take Olympic Blvd east to La Cienega-turn left on La Cienega-turn right on Gregory and field is on the right.

Despite a lot of heart and talent, the 2005 Major SB Stars exited the Section 3 All Star Tournament early this season, losing to the West Torrance Stars 12-4 Sunday night. The Stars had their chances early in the game, but just didn't get the timely hits necessary to pull this one out. After falling behind 4-0 in the first on solid hitting from the WT Stars, MB loaded the bases in the bottom of the first but could not push a run across. They surrendered another run in the second, but MB charged back for 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning to the delight of the large MB fan contingent. But the failure to capitalize on a no out bases loaded situation in the bottom of the 4th when trailing 6-4 spelled defeat. Reilly Hammond pitched another steady game, but did not get the strong defensive support the team enjoyed in game two. And despite clutch hitting performances from Carol Gentzler, Sara Derian and Hammond, the girls just could not string together the hits for the rally that was needed in the middle innings. WT put the game away in the later innings with a big two out rally on consecutive bullets to the alleys. But the MB Stars continued to battle, and showed great tenacity and character throughout the contest and tournament to make their fans proud. Congratulations to all the Stars for a tremendous effort. And thanks to Manager Kip Hammond, and coaches Craig Wesser and Mark Pavone for dedicating so much time and energy to make this team a success. It was a great experience for the girls, and we fans enjoyed every minute. And thanks to all the MB fans for such a strong showing of support. Next weekend both the MLL Junior SB All Stars and 9 & 10 Year Old Stars begin Sectional Tournament play. Both of these teams have a lot of promise and the fans are guaranteed to see great softball and some exciting games. The Juniors first game is on Friday, July 22 at 5 p.m. at West Torrance. The 9 & 10 All Stars start play on the same day, Friday July 22 at 7:15 p.m. at Westchester. Both fields are only 15 minutes from MB, so come out for some great family entertainment and support our Stars. More game details and directions are available on the MLL website: mbll.org. See you Friday at the cross-town doubleheader. Bill von Behren MLL - VP Softball ______________ In an impressive all around effort, the MB 11 & 12 Year Old Softball Stars rolled over Los Altos 10-3 Saturday night in impressive fashion to the delight of a large and boisterous MB crowd. Led by control specialist Kellie Wesser on the mound and the big bats of Reilly Hammond and Chloe Krasnoff among many others, the Stars jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. The Stars' impressive hitting attack behind the masterful pitching performance of Kellie Wesser was complimented by almost flawless fielding to combine for a dominant effort. Katie Saunders contributed another stellar catching performance to lead a stingy defense. The strong pitching and impenetrable defense completely shut down the Los Altos Stars until late in the game, when Los Altos pushed across a few runs to make the final score respectable. Relentless, balanced hitting provided more than enough runs as MB jumped to an early 5-0 lead after 3 innings, powered by a multiple hit game from Hammond, Krasnoff, Carol Gentzler, Chloe Conceicao, Laura Derian and Sara Derian. Montana Morgan and Stephanie Ren rounded out the offensive attack with key walks and a big hit to start another rally to allow MB to build an insurmountable 10-1 lead in the 5th inning. The Stars showed that they can play with any team tonight, and will have to put forth another all around performance to prevail on Sunday when they take on the powerful West Torrance Stars on their home field at 4:45. Please come out and cheer on the Stars. They will need a lot of support when they square off against the Tournament Host's entry. This game featured many MB fan sightings including the Humphrey, Kane, Lambert, Prendergast, and Griffith families, to just name a few fans who had no family members in the game but still came to see the game just for the sake of supporting MBLL teams. Well done. Hope to see you all on Sunday at 4:45 pm. at West Torrance. Go Stars!! Bill von Behren MLL - VP Softball ____________________ In a hard fought battle that was much closer than the final score would indicate, Manhattan Beach Little League's 11 & 12 Year Old Softball All Stars lost their first round contest in the Section 3 Tournament by the score of 5-0 at the hands of a strong North Venice team. The Major Stars were in a close, hard fought battle behind an impressive pitching performance turned in by Reilly Hammond until North Venice jumped to a 5-0 lead with two outs in the top of the 6th inning on a two run line drive home run that cleared the left field fence just a few feet in fair territory. Prior to that bullet, MLL was embroiled in a pitchers dual in which it seemed the MLL bats would rally at any time to erase an initial 2 run deficit in the 2nd inning that grew to a three run lead in the 3rd. North Venice featured a fire baller on the mound that stymied the MLL hitters the first time through the order, but the bats came alive in the fourth inning. The MLL Stars loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the fourth highlighted by Chloe Krasnoff's double in the gap in right center. And another rally in the 5th was cut short on some fine defensive plays. Eventually North Venice settled down behind a powerful pitching performance and a strong defense to slam the door and preserve the shutout. Reilly Hammond deserved a much better fate having kept the Venice bats off balance for most of the contest mixing her pitches well and hitting her spots in a complete game effort to keep Manhattan in the game until the Major Stars' bats came alive. But despite an strong overall performance by the Manhattan Stars it just was not meant to be on this night. The Major Stars now face off against Los Altos at West Torrance Little League at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday, July 16. Please come out and support our worthy stars. Bill von Behren MLL - VP Softball ________________ Friday, July 15 at 5:30 p.m. - District 36 Champion (Manhattan Beach) v. District 25 Champion (West L.A., North Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu area teams). The game will be played in West Torrance. The West Torrance Little League field is located at 5417 Halison St. in Torrance, CA 90503 (for mapquest or other searches.) It is about 15 minutes from MB. Directions to the field are noted below, or you can locate a map of the West Torrance Little League website, at WTLL.com.

To all MLL softball parents, players and fans: Manhattan Little League's Softball Division is continuing its tradition of fielding great Little League all star teams in 2005. This year we have three teams that have advanced to the Little League Section 3 All Star Tournament. MLL's 9 & 10 Year Old team (Minor League All Stars), 11 & 12 Year Old team (Major League All Stars) and the 13 & 14 Year Old team (Junior League) have all advanced and will be playing in highly competitive tournaments in our area over the course of the next two weeks commencing on Friday, July 15. Please come out and support our Softball All Stars and have an enjoyable evening or afternoon with your kids watching an exciting sport involving their friends and neighbors. And please forward this message to other softball parents and fans so everyone knows about this unique opportunity to see exciting softball action in our area. All of the all star tournament information will be posted and updated on MLL's website, mbll.org. At this site you will find all of the tournament pairings with the times, dates and locations for each game. The Manhattan Little League teams are the District 36 Champions, so you can follow the progress of each of these MLL teams by looking for the District 36 games on the tournament brackets posted on our website. If you have any questions or need additional information, just contact me and I will be happy to help. Here is the schedule for each of our team's first games in their respective tournaments: The Major League All Star Tournament (11 & 12 Year Old Softball): Friday, July 15 at 5:30 p.m. - District 36 Champion (Manhattan Beach) v. District 25 Champion (West L.A., North Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu area teams). The game will be played in West Torrance. The West Torrance Little League field is located at 5417 Halison St. in Torrance, CA 90503 (for mapquest or other searches.) It is about 15 minutes from MB. Directions to the field are noted below, or you can locate a map of the West Torrance Little League website, at WTLL.com. The Junior League All Star Tournament (13 & 14 Year Old Softball): Friday, July 22 at 5:00 p.m. - District 36 Champion (Manhattan Beach) v. District 25 Champion (West L.A., North Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu area teams). The game will be played in West Torrance. The West Torrance Little League field is located at 5417 Halison St. in Torrance, CA 90503 (for mapquest or other searches.) It is about 15 minutes from MB. Directions to the field are noted below, or you can locate a map of the West Torrance Little League website, at WTLL.com. The Minor League All Star Tournament (9 & 10 Year Old Softball): Friday, July 22 at 7:15 p.m. - District 36 Champion (Manhattan Beach) v. District 38 Champion (Long Beach area teams). The game will be played in Westchester at Kent Mace Field in Carl Nielsen Youth Park. It is located just 10 minutes from MB about a mile North East of LAX. A map is posted on the mbll.org website. Or just send me a message and I will send you the directions. We hope to see you there. Regards, Bill von Behren MLL VP - Softball Directions to the West Torrance Little Softball Field (5417 Halison Street): __________ Go South on PROSPECT to DEL AMO Ave. Turn Left on DEL AMO Ave., go 3 signal lights, Turn Left at the 3rd signal light: ENTRADERO Ave. (it is directly across from West Torrance High Football Stadium) Go 4 blocks north on ENTRADERO until you get to 1st stop sign: HALISON St. Turn Left on HALISON and go 1 1/2 blocks until you see a sign: WEST TORRANCE LITTLE LEAGUE, [It is in the middle of a residential area. As you are going down Halison, the sign is posted in a small alley between 2 homes. Don't go more than 1 1/2 blocks.] Turn Right at the sign and go down the hill to the left to the softball fields. You can also get a map from the WTLL website. Go to wtll.com. On the left hand side, under Contents, scroll down to Links. Under links, click on the Map to Fields.

The Manhattan Beach Boys battled hard to the very end, but lost a heartbreaker to a very strong Lunada Bay team by a score of 9-2. It was a great experience for the boys, coaches and families. Lunada Bay jumped out front with well placed hits to the opposite field in the first inning. Manhattan Beach battled hard, and brought the score to 4-1, in the top of the 4th, on an RBI single by Michael Mullahey. In between, RB shut them down with a deceptive mix of fastballs and off-speed pitches. But Lunada Bay put 5 runs on the board in the bottom of the 4th on a walk, three singles and a double. Fighting hard to the very end, MB added a run in the 6th on an RB double and an error. But warning track shots by Gordon Cardenas and Ryan Erickson were hauled in to end the threat. The Manhattan Beach 11s distinguished themselves with slick fielding, solid fundamental play, an aggressive attitude at the plate and pitchers that refused to give in to opposing hitters. The Manhattan Beach 11s also represented the city well with good sportsmanship. All the boys raised the level of their game and will be better players in the next spring season. The 11-year old District tournament only includes the elite teams in the District and the 2nd place finish speaks well for our boys. Every victory is hard earned in this tournament. All the Managers and Coaches were extremely happy with the boys' attitude, effort and team chemistry. It was an honor to be their coaches. Mark Macdonald ______________________ Baseball can be cruel. Sometimes you hit the ball well, but it goes straight to a fielder. That was pretty much the story for the MB 11-year old All Stars. They battled hard and were within striking distance in the top of the 6th at 3-1. In the end, it wasn't their day. There is always tomorrow, and in this case even more, as the 11-year old stars can win the District Championship with a win on Sunday. The MB 11-year old All Stars seem to like suspense, so we suspect this is all a ploy to play another game. The Lunada Bay team is good and it will be a great game. Game time is 1pm at the Rolling Hills Little League field. Mark Macdonald ____________________ It was a classic Little League baseball. Parents stressed out in the stands (see Laura Inlow).....boys relaxed and having fun in the field. Little League baseball is beautiful to watch when it is played well and it was played well by both the MB and Lunada Bay teams. The final score was 5-4. Lunada Bay jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Ryan "RB" Barney in the top of the 1st inning on 2 singles, a walk, and a double. The inning was saved as 3rd baseman Ryan Erickson threw a runner out at 1st on a bunt attempt with 1st baseman Kevin Inlow quickly throwing home to catcher Ian McLoughlin for the tag and the double play. RB has always had tough first innings, though, so the MB boys were not concerned. RB settled down and threw scoreless baseball over the next three innings. Meanwhile, the MB bats came alive with an RBI single from Ryan Erickson in the 1st, and two runs in the 2nd on an RBI sac fly from RB and an RBI single from Gordon "Gordo" Cardenas. In the bottom of the 4th, RB singled and Ian McLoughlin doubled to move the MB 11s out front by a score of 4-2. In the top of the 5th, RB got the first out on a pop up to himself, but then tired and the next two batters singled. Kevin Inlow was brought into a tough situation, but retired the next two batters on a line out to 2nd baseman, RB, and a strikeout. In between, the Lunada Bay team scored another run on a wild pitch to make the score 4-3. In the bottom of the 5th, with one out, Kevin Inlow doubled into the right field sun field. An infield out moved Kevin to 3rd and brought Christian "C Mac" Macdonald to the plate. On a 2-2 count, with 2 outs, C Mac took an outside pitch to right field to drive in the eventual winning run. Proving the faith his Father had in him. The top of the 6th was still full of excitement. Kevin struck out the first batter. The second batter appeared to be out on an easy pop foul to 1st baseman Morgan Ascher, but he dropped the ball. That was the first error of the tournament for an MB 11 player. Eventually, that battered doubled into the right field gap. The next batter walked and it didn't look good for the MB 11s. But Kevin Inlow took charged and stuck out the next batter on a slider in the dirt. Unfortunately, that pitch skipped past catcher Ian McLoughlin and moved the score to 5-4 with 2 out and a runner at 2nd. The next batter popped a foul over 1st basemen Morgan Ascher's head who made a diving acrobatic catch.....redeeming himself and saving the day. This was truly a team victory, as the boys had to overcome the loss of CF/2B Christian Rogers to a broken thumb. You know a team is deep, when the 7, 8 & 9 batters produce 3 runs and an RBI. Zack Missioreck laid down a beautiful bunt, which lead to an eventual run in the 4th. Michael Mullahey played flawless outfield and is "this close" to breaking out at the plate. Team fielding remains a strength, as Aidan Doyle, Gordo Cardenas, Kevin Inlow and Ryan Erickson all made great plays. RB went 2-2 with a sac fly, RBI and 2 runs. Gordo, Ian, Ryan Erickson, Kevin Inlow and Aidan added hits. Brett Clark drew a walk and scored a run. And C Mac walked, scored a run, and drove in the winning run. The MB 11s are off until 7-9 when they will face the winner of the loser bracket, which could easily be the Lunada Bay team. The game will be at 11am. Its a fun bunch of boys to watch, so please come out. Mark Macdonald _____________________________________________ On a night when their bats went cold, the MB 11-year old All Star team used pitching and fielding to pull out a gut wrenching win over Silver Spur. The final score was 3-2 with final out coming on a close play at the plate. The Silver Spur team battled hard using deceptive pitching and strong fielding to hang close. Ian McLoughlin pitched all 6 innings giving up 2 runs on 3 hits and 3walks. In the top of the 6th, with one out, Silver Spur batter David Rankin walked. Christian Rogers made a nice play on a shallow fly ball to right field....fighting the sun for the second out. That brought the Silver Spur clean-up hitter, Brandon Canky, to the plate. On a 3-2 count, he drove a ball just inside the 3rd base line. The ball got past the leftfielder Morgan Ascher who turned and ran the ball down at the fence meeting center fielder, C Mac, who was backing him up. He quickly turned and fired a relay throw to short stop Gordon Cardenas, who fired the ball to Ryan "RB" Barney the catcher, who applied a sweep tag for the final out of the game. MB got off to a fast start with 2 runs in the first inning on a double by RB and consecutive singles by Gordon Cardenas and Ian McLoughlin. But they left the bases loaded as Brett "Buzz" Clark's line drive to left centerfield was run down on a nice play by the Silver Spur center fielder. Silver Spur scored a run in the top of the 2nd to make the score 2-1 and it stayed that way until the bottom of the 4th inning. In the bottom of the 4th, Kevin Inlow started the inning with a single to right field. He stole 2nd and advanced to 3rd on an infield out. RB then singled to drive in the eventual winning run. In the field, Gordon Cardenas, Christian Rogers and Aidan Doyle all made great plays. RB, Gordon Cardenas and Ryan Erickson each had two hits. Morgan Ascher, Christian Rogers, Kevin Inlow and Ian McLoughlin added hits. In the end, it was truly a team victory as all the boys pulled together on a night when the stars were not aligned. With this victory, the MB 11-yearold boys are guaranteed to be one of the last three teams in the tournament. The road will get tougher, as they will need to face the strong PV and/or Lunada Bay teams. But these boys are tough and they are having a blast. Please come out to our next game on Friday night at 5pm. It will be versus the winner of the Lunada Bay/PV game. The Rolling Hills field can be tough to find, so please follow the directions below. Its great baseball and great fun. 1. Go south on Hawthorne Blvd. Past PCH and up the hill. 2. Turn Left at Rolling Hills Road. Rolling Hills Road will gradually curve from the east to the south. 3. At Palos Verdes Drive North, turn left and head east. 3. After turning onto PV Drive North, take a left at the first stop light into Dapplegray Elementary school. 4. As you turn into Dapplegray School, you need to take an immediate left onto an access road. You will see a sign on your right that says "Home Of Rolling Hills Little League." 5. Travel down the windy, rough, and narrow access road for approximately 1/2 mile. At this point you will think you have made a wrong turn. The Little League field is at the bottom of the canyon. Watch out for on-coming cars and horses. Here is the link from the RHLL web site. http://eteamz.active.com/rhll/locations/ ____________________________________ The MB 11 year-old Baseball All Star team won in a well played game versus Rolling Hills at the Rolling Hills field. The final score was 12-2 in a game that only went 5 innings because of the mercy rule. The MB 11y old All Stars had 13 hits and played error free ball. Ryan "RB" Barney pitched out of a tough bases loaded jam in the first inning and threw four scoreless innings until he tired in the 4th. Kevin Inlow came in and closed out the 5th. The MB All Stars were strong defensively with Aidan Doyle throwing a runner out at home and Gordon Cardenas making several nice plays at short stop. Ian McLoughlin was the hitting star going 4 for 4 with a double, 3 runs, and 4 RBIs. RB added 2 doubles and scored 4 runs, while Aidan Doyle went 2 for 2 with 2 RBIs. Ryan Erickson, Christian "C Mac" Macdonald, Gordon Cardenas and Morgan Ascher also had hits. The game ended on consecutive bases loaded walks to C Mac and Kevin Inlow. The MB 11-y old All Stars will play again on Monday night against Silver Spur at the Rolling Hills field. The game time is 5pm. The field is located off PV Drive North, near Dapplegray Elementary School. It is a beautiful location and the Rolling Hills families are great hosts. Please come out and cheer the boys on! --Mark Macdonald