Slammers

In a game that the boys and parents will never forget, the Manhattan Beach Little League 9/10-year old All Stars bested the El Segundo 9/10-year old All Stars by a score of 6-4.  The game was decided by a walk-off, grand slam, home run from Will Proctor.  The home run was sweet revenge for Will, as he was robbed of a two-run home run in the third inning on a great play by El Segundo center fielder Jake Palmer.  Manhattan Beach will move on to play in the Sectional Tournament at Wiseburn Little League in Hawthorne. Their first game will be Saturday, July 12th, at 2pm.

The Manhattan Beach and El Segundo teams were the class of the District #36, 9/10 All Star Tournament.  Both teams are talented, experienced and are well-coached.  Each team had marched through the tournament easily until they met in the championship game of the winners bracket.  In that game, Manhattan Beach scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning to win by a score of 5-3 and push El Segundo into the losers bracket.  In the losers bracket, El Segundo defeated Silver Spur by a score of 10-0 to earn the opportunity to play Manhattan Beach in the championship game.  Because they were coming out of the losers bracket, El Segundo needed to defeat Manhattan Beach twice.

The first championship game started with Zack Chan on the mound for Manhattan Beach and Dylan McDonnell on the mound for El Segundo.  Both teams went down quietly in the 1st inning.  In the top of the 2nd, El Segundo scored two runs on singles by Griffin Martes, Jake Palmer and an RBI ground out by Alec Zeman.  Manhattan Beach threatened in their half of the 2nd inning on a walk to Reese Alexiades and an error on ball hit by Nick Harry, but a strikeout ended that threat.

The 3rd inning was important because it set the stage for the late game drama.  In the top of the 3rd, El Segundo scored two additional runs to take a 4-0 lead.  A Ryan Graner double and Lars Nootbaar single put runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs. Manhattan Beach shortstop Cameron Richter made a nice play on a grounder to get Graner at 3rd base for an out.   An error loaded the bases, though, and a single by Griffin Martes scored a run. After a strikeout, a single by Jake Palmer scored a second El Segundo run. On the play, Manhattan Beach center fielder Reese Alexiades hit Zack Chan with a beautiful cut-off throw, and Zack threw to Jimmy Shaw at third base to catch Martes, who had rounded 3rd base too far, for the final out.  Down by a score of 4-0, Manhattan Beach threatened in the bottom of the 3rd. Robert White hit a ball hard into the gap, but El Segundo left fielder Alec Zeman made a great play on the ball and it was only a loud out.  With one out, pitcher Zach Chan singled and moved to second on a wild pitch. Manhattan Beach first baseman, Will Proctor, sent a long drive to center field that was headed over the fence, but the El Segundo outfielder, Jake Palmer, reached over the fence for the catch and then doubled Zack Chan off second base.  At his point it didn't appear that the baseball Gods were looking after the Manhattan Beach boys.

El Segundo threatened again in the top of the 4th on an Isaac Lambert walk and a Lars Nootbaar single.  But catcher Kyle Hammerstein threw to Jimmy Shaw at third base to put out a runner trying to steal and end the threat. With one out in the bottom of the 4th, Manhattan Beach got moving.  Bobby Wymbs reached on an infield single followed by consecutive walks to Reese Alexiades and Cameron Richter.  A Tommy Bothwell ground out scored a run, but that was all that Manhattan Beach could put on the board.

Tommy Bothwell moved to the mound for Manhattan Beach in the top of the 5th with Brett Davis catching.  He gave up a single to Dylan McDonnell, but no runs.  In the bottom of the 5th, Robert White walked and Will Proctor reached on an error with one out.  At this point, El Segundo pitcher Dylan McDonnell had reached his pitch count and was replaced by Griffin Martes. A walk to Blake Hammerstein loaded the bases, but Martes got a pop-up and strike out to end the inning.

El Segundo threatened in the top of the 6th.  Noah Ruedas walked and was sacrificed to second base.  A single by Tyler Smith moved Ruedas to third base and Smith stole second base to put runners at second and third with one out.  On a grounder, shortstop Cameron Richter threw to first to get an out, with first baseman Will Proctor throwing back to Cameron to catch Smith in a rundown for the final out of the inning.  Manhattan Beach found themselves in a 4-1 hole entering the bottom of the 6th inning.  A Cameron Richter single, stolen base, and Tommy Bothwell single scored one run. Tommy was forced out at second base on a Brett Davis grounder.  Consecutive walks to Robert White and Zack Chan loaded the bases, though, setting the stage for Will Proctor's dramatic home run.  Will's home run scored pinch runner Jimmy Shaw, Robert and Zack and the entire team celebrated at home plate.

As is the case with 9 and 10 year old boys, there were some errors, but there were also some amazing plays for both teams.  The Manhattan Beach boys battled hard until the end and never gave up.  Congratulations to all the boys, Manager Bob Wymbs and Coaches Mike Harry and Jeff Proctor.