Blue Flames

Manhattan Beach 12-Year Old All Stars were crowned District #36 Champions on Thursday, July 10th, with an 8-5 victory over Palos Verdes.  It was the first District Championship, at the 12-year old level (AKA Majors), for Manhattan Beach since 2003.  To quote manager Eric Zucker, the Manhattan Beach boys "went big" with four, two out, home runs keying the victory. The Palos Verdes boys played hard to the end and gave it everything they had in an attempt to win.  This included center fielder Blake Matsuda twice diving over the fence in an attempt to catch a home run.  Congratulations
to both teams for a very well played game.

The road to the championship game was not easy for either team as District 36 is full of talented teams.  The double elimination tournament featured teams from  the South Bay and Hill.  Manhattan Beach started the Tournament with back to back victories versus Silver Spur (4-1) and Rolling Hills (10-0).  Palos Verdes defeated North Redondo to set up the first of three games between the two teams.  Manhattan Beach defeated Palos Verdes by a score of 6-4 in a game went back and forth all night. The teams matched home runs in the 1st inning with Jack Smith (MB) and Lucas Hodges (PV) going deep.  A Kyle Zucker triple keyed two runs for Manhattan Beach in the 2nd and a 3-1 lead.  PV added a run in the top of the 3rd to make the score 3-2.  Cooper Griffith manufactured a run for Manhattan Beach in the bottom of the 3rd to push their lead to 4-2.  Palos Verdes tied the score on a two run HR (second of the game) by former Manhattan Beach player Lucas Hodges in the top of the 4th.  Danny Kelleher came on in relief of Justin Schottenhammer and closed out the game with some great defensive plays.  A Cooper Griffith single, Thomas Lapham double, and David Odle single produced two runs in the bottom of the 5th and gave Manhattan Beach the 6-4 win.   With the loss, Palos Verdes dropped down into the loser's bracket.

There was still a lot of baseball to be played.  Manhattan Beach faced El Segundo in the championship game of the winners bracket.  In that game, Manhattan Beach used the strong arms of pitchers Thomas Lapham and David Odle to defeat El Segundo by a score of 4-3.  The big hits were a two run home run from Thomas Lapham and a two run double from Justin Schottenhammer.  In the loser's bracket, Palos Verdes was victorious over Silver Spur, South Redondo and El Segundo to force a rematch with Manhattan Beach.  Because Palos Verdes was coming out of the loser's bracket, they would need to defeat Manhattan Beach twice for the championship.

The first championship game (7/10) started with Danny Kelleher (MB) and Matt Kemps (PV) on the mound.  Manhattan Beach jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning, but they left two runners on base.  In the 2nd inning, they left two more runners on base.  In the bottom of the 2nd inning, Palos Verdes scored three runs on a walk, dropped fly ball, sacrifice fly and two-run home run.  It was the first sign that Manhattan Beach's fielding was not up to snuff.  Manhattan Beach put the first two runners on base in the top of the 3rd inning, but again left them stranded. Palos Verdes scored two runs in the bottom of the third.  An error, single and  wild pitch scored one run.  An infield pitch and wild pitch scored the second run.  Manhattan Beach struck quickly in the top of the 4th on a Gregory French single, Justin Schottenhammer single and Jack Smith three run homer to pull within 5-4.  Palos Verdes added a run in the bottom of the 4th on a double and consecutive errors.  A Jackson Vena home run brought Manhattan Beach back to 5-4.  But Palos Verdes came back to score two more unearned runs in the bottom of the 5th.  The game ended with two Manhattan Beach runners on base.  The final score was 7-5.

This brought everyone back on Thursday, July 12th, for a second championship game.  This time there would be a champion.  The stands were packed with many people walking blocks to the tournament because parking was so precious.  The Manhattan Beach boys were loose.  Danny told his pre-game joke.  Gregory shook the hand of the Palos Verdes player with a handful of sunflower seeds.  Manhattan Beach was the visiting team and sent Thomas Lapham to the mound.  Palos Verdes was the home team and sent Matt Lopes to the mound.

Manhattan Beach went down very quietly in the first two innings..  Palos Verdes jumped out front by a score of 2-0 with two runs in the bottom of the second.  An infield single, and a single, combined with an error, put runners at 2nd and 3rd.  A ground out scored one run and a single scored the second run.  In the top of the 3rd, the first two Manhattan Beach hitters went down quietly.  Up stepped #9 hitter, Gregory French.  Palos Verdes pitcher Matt Lopes had pitched a perfect game to that point.  The prior night the Manhattan Beach boys seemed frustrated, but the atmosphere was different this night.  Gregory hit a ball so high, it must have woken up the baseball gods.  It caught just enough of the sea breeze to get over the left center fence and the diving attempt of Palos Verdes center fielder Blake Matsuda.  Manhattan Beach was on the board and they had grabbed the momentum.  Justin singled, and Jack Smith doubled, to score Justin all the way from first base.  Thomas doubled to score Jack.  Thomas advance to 3rd base on a wild pitch and scored on a wild throw to 3rd base.  Manhattan Beach had four, two out, runs and a 4-2 lead.  In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Palos Verdes put a runner on base, but Willy Hock, Danny Kelleher and Thomas Lapham turned in great defensive plays to get out of the inning.

In the top of the 4th, Manhattan Beach added another run, with two out, on an opposite field home run by Danny Kelleher.  Singles by Gregory, Justin and Jack reloaded the bases, but Thomas struck out to end the inning. Thomas put down Palos Verdes in the bottom of the 4th with the help of a great play on a line drive by Jack Smith at first base.  With two out, in the top of the 5th, and with David Odle on 2nd base, Quinn McCauley stepped up to the plate.  This was going to be the only plate appearance for Quinn, who had struggled hitting in the tournament.  Quinn sent a 2-2 pitch deep into the left center gap.  Palos Verdes center fielder Blake Matsuda, again, made a diving attempt to catch the ball.  He caught the ball over the fence, though, and it was ruled a home run.  Manhattan Beach lead 7-2.

Of course, it was never easy with this group of boys.   An infield single, walk and error loaded the bases.  With a big lead, Manhattan Beach started trading runs for outs.  Three consecutive ground outs got them out of the inning with a 7-4 lead.  In the top of the 6th, Jack Smith homered with two out.  All the Manhattan Beach runs scored with two out.  In the bottom of the 6th, the first two Palos Verdes hitters went down quietly.  A home run, though, put a scare into the Manhattan Beach crowd.  Right fielder, Danny Kelleher, gave it all in an attempt to pull the home run back into the park, but he just missed the catch.  Thomas struck out the last batter to secure the 8-5 win and the boys celebrated with a victory lap.

The District Championship was the culmination of years of work for this group of boys and families.  At the plate,Jack Smith lead the team in hitting with four home runs and Justin Schottenhammer was constantly on base in the lead-off spot.  Early in the tournament, Kyle Zucker and Cooper Griffith had hits that keyed victories.  Late in the tournament it was Greg Briskin, Jackson Vena, Gregory French, Quinn McCauley and David Odle that came through in the clutch.  On the mound, the strong arms of starting pitchers Danny Kelleher and Thomas Lapham guaranteed the team would be in every game.  They were supported with key innings from Justin Schottenhammer and David Odle.  In the field, Jack Smith was superb at first base.  Josh Cavallo and Greg Briskin added big plays in center field and Willy Hock knocked down balls at second base.   In the end, it was a team victory.  Over the course of the District tournament, every boy had a moment where they made a mistake and every boy took a turn at carrying the team.  Congratulations to the boys, Manager Eric Zucker and Coaches Jon Smith and David Odle.

Section 4 Note.

Manhattan Beach moves on to the Section 4 tournament at North Venice Little League starting on July 12th.  In the first game of that tournament, they defeated Culver City by a score of 12-2 in a game that was ended after 5 innings because of the mercy rule.  Jack Smith started and went four innings for the win.  Justin Schottenhammer went one inning for the save. The game was close after three innings with MB up 2-1.  A bad call hurt Manhattan Beach in the top of the 4th and allowed Culver City to tie the game at 2.  Manhattan Beach put up four runs in the bottom of the 4th and 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th to finish the game.  Jackson Vena was the hitting star with 2 doubles, a home run, 3 runs, and a bunch of RBIs.  He hit a 3-run HR in the bottom of the 5th into a tough breeze. Center fielder Josh Cavallo threw out a runner at the plate in the top of the 4th to keep the game at 2-2.