Bronco All-Star team finishes third at World Series

The Fountain Valley Youth Baseball Bronco All-Stars captured third

place at the PONY World Series, which concluded last weekend in Monterey.

It was the highest World Series finish for a Fountain Valley Bronco

team.

Fountain Valley opened the tournament with two easy wins, topping host

Monterey, 13-2, before blanking Florida, 6-0. But the team’s run to a

possible world title was dealt its first blow by Taiwan, which escaped

with a 6-5 victory. Then, Puerto Rico eliminated Fountain Valley from the

double elimination tournament by scoring an exhausting 9-8 win in a

10-inning affair.

Taiwan went on to win the Bronco World Series for the third

consecutive year.

Taiwan 6, Fountain Valley 5

Taiwan’s bid for a third straight crown appeared in jeopardy in this

third round meeting between two unbeaten teams.

After spotting their opponent a 1-0 lead, Fountain Valley scored two

runs in the third inning, with Garrett Leon singling home Jeff Roth and

Jake Mahlstedt driving in Jeff Croswell with an RBI single, for a 2-1

Fountain Valley lead. They scored again in the fourth when Dean Otsuka

singled and later scored on a balk, then posted two more runs in the

sixth when Kyle Mastel doubled and was brought home by Cameron McMullen,

and Ryan Stehle later would knock in McMullen for a 5-1 lead.

Despite limiting Taiwan to just one run through the first five

innings, Fountain Valley’s pitching staff couldn’t contain Taiwan’s

potent offense in the bottom of the sixth, where they pushed across five

runs for a 6-5 advantage. Fountain Valley was unable to score in the top

of the seventh, and Taiwan reserved a spot in the championship game.

Puerto Rico 9, Fountain Valley 8

One night after the heartbreaking loss to Taiwan, Fountain Valley came

back with a strong effort against Puerto Rico, with the winner of this

game going up against Taiwan for the World Series title.

Leon, Fountain Valley’s starting pitcher, opened the scoring by

driving home Roth in the first inning. But Puerto Rico rallied big time

in the second inning, scoring six runs to open up a 6-1 lead. Not to be

denied, however, Fountain Valley slowly chipped away at the deficit, with

relief pitcher Chad Blauer keeping Puerto Rico base runners out of

scoring position.

In the third inning, Thomas Marcin scored before Blauer belted a

two-run home run. Marcin would score again in the fourth, this time on a

Puerto Rico error, and Kyle Mastel brought Fountain Valley into a 6-6 tie

with a solo home run in the fifth inning.

The score remained that way through seven innings of regulation play,

but in the top of the eighth inning, Fountain Valley scored twice to

forge an 8-6 lead. Roth’s two-RBI single, which scored both McMullen and

Marcin, was the key hit of the inning.

That lead evaporated in the bottom of the eighth, as Puerto Rico

rallied to tie the game again. The 8-8 tie was broken in the bottom of

the 10th inning when Puerto Rico’s Justin Ramos smashed his third home

run of the night (a World Series single-game record) to lift his team

into the title game.

After four hours and 15 minutes of 10, exciting innings of baseball,

Fountain Valley’s magical run through the postseason came to an end, it’s

21-3 playoff record evident of the success of this team.

As the Fountain Valley players accepted their trophies for their

third-place finish, Coach Jeff Croswell summed up the experience by

saying, “this has been the most fabulous summer I’ve ever had.”

The Fountain Valley Youth Baseball Bronco All-Star team is made up of

Dustin Aoyagi, Chad Blauer, Sam Bridges, Jason Croswell, Branden Lawson,

Garrett Leon, Jake Mahlstedt, Thomas Marcin, Kyle Mastel, Cameron

McMullen, Brett Nagel, Dean Otsuka, Jeff Roth, Ryan Stehle, coaches Jeff

Croswell and Terry Mastel, and Manager John Stehle.