AALL Minors Angels Reach District 17 City Tournament Semifinals
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