Long Beach youth baseball teams enjoying solid summer

Several of the Long Beach area baseball leagues are having a solid summer. Here’s a brief breakdown of what they’ve done the past month:Long Beach PONY

The Whaley Park PONY League has two All-Star teams in action this month as the 13U and 14U teams advanced to super region touaments. The 14U team will be in Moreno Valley on July 21-26. The 13U team starts its super region bracket today (July 15) in West Covina at 5 p.m. against Victoria, the No. 1 seed from the East Region.

“We have a solid team that has the potential to battle deep into the PONY All-star touament series,” PONY 13U coach Ken Jakemer said. He managed the 2008 Long Beach PONY World Series champions.

The Long Beach 13U squad lost to Heartwell on Monday in the regional touament championship game, although their spot in the super regional was already clinched.

“We’re disappointed in that loss,” Jakemer said. “We got some great experience playing three times against Heartwell, and demonstrated outstanding character while playing from behind and staying competitive.”

Starting pitcher and first baseman Aidan Majerus is back in the lineup this week after missing the last touament. He will join pitcher Ricky Tiedema at the top of the Long Beach rotation. Tiedema posted a 0.87 ERA during the regular season for Long Beach PONY. Julio Cisneros coached Tiedema on the Dodgers, and is the 13U manager along with coaches Stacy Ybarra and Jakemer.

Long Beach will play Saturday at 4:30 p.m. with a win tonight, or at 2 p.m. with a loss.

Los Altos Cal Ripken

The Los Altos Cal Ripken 12U All-Stars were knocked out of the Pacific Southwest touament in Hawaii earlier this week, after an impressive run this summer. Los Altos clinched its fourth straight Southe Califoia State title with a convincing 21-9 win over Heartwell last month.

In its first nine games of the summer, it hit .455, scoring 95 runs and hitting 27 home runs. It averaged three homers per game.

John Lanterman and Spencer Moffatt led the way for the Los Altos All-Stars. Lanterman hit .643 with 22 RBIs and scored 16 runs. Moffatt hit .552 with 14 RBIs and scored nine runs. Lanterman and Moffatt combined to hit 11 of the team’s 27 home runs to start the summer.

In the PSW touament Los Altos defeated Guam, 16-0, in their first game. Moffatt and J’Amore’ Ward each pitched two iings of no hit baseball on the way to the shutout.

Julian Sifuentes and Sebastian Smith were the hot bats in Hawaii. Sifuentes hit .500 with six RBIs and was able to break up a no-hitter against Northe Califoia. Smith chipped in with four RBIs, while hitting .454 in the touament.

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Los Altos lost in the PSW title game.

- Paul Slater

Plaza Little League 8-Select

The Long Beach Plaza Little League 8-Select All-Star team won the District 38 title after defeating Hawaiian Gardens Little League, 17-7, in the championship game. It was the first all-star championship for Plaza since moving to their new home, Cherry Park, seven years ago.

“It was a really special experience,” coach Gabriel Villalobos said about his team’s victory. “Just seeing the joy on the boys’ faces after wiing the championship made me happy.”

Plaza called Heartwell Park home for almost 50 years until it was pushed out due to differing opinions between board members. Since the move to Cherry Park, Plaza is in a very good rebuilding stage and their recent championship proves there is great talent in the Plaza pipeline.

“Our mind-set at Plaza Little League is ‘Why not us?’,” Villalobos said. “We just want to be a recognized program in the city of Long Beach.”

Plaza went down 7-0 after four iings in the first game of the 8-Select All-Star touament against Lakewood Village Little League, but it tued it around in the bottom of the fifth and battled back for the 8-7 victory. Plaza trailed in three of its four games. It scored 52 runs in its four wins. Plaza cruised through the wier’s bracket to take home the District 38 championship, defeating the TOC champion, Hawaiian Gardens, twice.

Julio Gonzalez and Jack Champlin led the way on the mound for the 8-Select champions. Gonzalez started three of the four games in the touament and Champlin closed out all four games to seal the victories.

The big bat in the lineup for Plaza was Gabriel Villalobos II. He went 9-for-13 in the touament with seven RBIs.

- Paul Slater

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