Sierra Madre All Star team Regional Champs

Back row, Manager Al Gills, Jacob Romo, Nick Ybanez, Matt Loomis, Angel Guzman, Andy Garriola, Coach Mike Guzman, Jesse Anderson-Ramirez, Josh Hedgpeth, Dante Campione, and Coach Lance West.
Front row, Victor Scalzo, Garet West, Jacob Bechtold, Nick Zuniga and Grady Gills.

The 13 year old All Star team from Sierra Madre Pony became the Region Champions on Monday night in Glendora, defeating a strong and perennial favorite West Covina team 14-11 in the second game of a doubleheader.
The Sierra Madre All Stars went into Monday night’s game 3-0 after defeating Covina, Diamond Bar, and West Covina over the previous five days and advancing to the championship game. Two great 7-inning complete game pitching performances by Nick Ybanez and an all around team effort on defense and hitting got the team to the championship.
In the first game of the doubleheader Monday night, West Covina jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead. After Sierra Madre tried to fight back late in the game, they lost 10-4, which then forced a deciding second game for the championship at 8pm.
The Sierra Madre All Stars showed new life and energy in the second game, jumping out and scoring 6 runs in the top of the first on aggressive base running and key hits from Victor Scalzo and Andy Garriola, who both led the team on offense with 7 of the teams 11 hits in the game. West Covina’s high powered hitting did not stop as they continued to put up runs each inning through the first 3 innings when Sierra Madre held on to a 8-6 lead. In the top of the 4th inning, the scrappy and relentless Sierra Madre team continued to put the pressure on by scoring 5 more runs, led by key hits from Jacob Bechtold, Nick Zuniga, Victor Scalzo, and Andy Garriola to take a 13-6 lead. But once again, West Covina answered putting up 4 more runs in the bottom of the 4th inning to close the gap to 13-10. After Sierra Madre scored a run in the top of the 5th , Victor Scalzo relieved Garet West from the pitching duties and pitched 3 strong innings to finish the game off, not before West Covina brought the tying run to the plate with men on first and second bases and the number three hitter ended the game popping up to the catcher, Nick Ybanez, who caught all 14 innings in the doubleheader. Once the ball was secured in Nick’s glove for the final out, the celebration started as Sierra Madre had not won a Region Championship in recent memory dating back at least 25 years.
From Sierra Madre Pony President Jeff Dapper, ” Winning Regionals is a very big deal for our small town and we are extremely proud of these young men and what they’ve accomplished so far. This is not a team that relies on the talent of a few exceptional players but rather a tight group of solid ball players who win by simply wearing down the other team because they never let up, from the first pitch to the last out!”
Manager Al Gills, ” This team never stopped playing hard. We had some gritty pitching performances and they battled some tough hitters. We played good defense and had timely hitting throughout the tournament. This group of boys played their hearts out and their determination to win as a team was exciting! Every player on this team contributed at some point in the tournament from big pinch hits to great defensive plays.”

The Sierra Madre All Star team by winning Regionals, now advances to the Pony Super Regional Tournament in Whittier, starting this Thursday night at 7:30pm, where they will play Chula Vista.

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