The Arcadia American Little League Minors Angels advanced to the semifinals of the District 17 City Tournament Championship Sunday by defeating the Pasadena Central Little League Dodgers, 11-1, at Hamilton Park in Pasadena.
The AALL Angels bounced back strongly after being upset in their league’s own postseason tournament with a strong performance that included some strong infield defense and 13-hit attack on offense in a game concluded after only 3 1/2 innings. The Angels were led to victory by the impressive pitching of Matt McIntire, who improved his season record to 4-0 and postseason record to 2-0 by throwing three strong innings. He allowed only one hit and struck out five while throwing only 32 efficient pitches. Michael Gruppie pitched a scoreless fourth, striking out two and collaborating with McIntire and shortstop Mikey Easter on a spectacular pickoff play at second base that completed a double play for the final outs.
The Angels started fast, scoring two runs in the first on RBI singles by Gruppie and Bailey Shen before breaking the game open with a five runs in the second inning and three more in the third. Ryan Nguyen had one of the big hits in the second, a booming two-run triple. Nguyen, Brandon Williams, and Nick Patton all had two hits each and Nguyen, Williams, Patton, Will Meeks and Easter all had extra-base hits for the Angels, who improved their overall season record to 18-2-1.
-Photos Courtesy of Eric Shen