Huntington Valley rolling along in 9/10 competition

Mike Sciacca

Huntington Valley Little League earned a spot in the Southern

California State Division III All-Star Tournament by defeating Cypress,

4-3, last weekend to win the Section 5 tournament championship.

Huntington Valley jumped on Cypress for three first inning runs. Barry

Luke walked and scored the first run and Tim Higgins (single) and Michael

Chairez later scored on infield outs.

The score stood that way until the fifth inning, when Luke scored on

Higgins’ second single of the game.

Cypress bats finally awoke in the bottom of the frame as they scored

three runs on four singles and a double to draw within a run at, 4-3.

Cypress threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, but Alex Barnes

caught a line drive at second base for the second out and with the tying

run at third base Cypress’ Jeff Casa lined out to Chairez at shortstop

for the final out.

Race Parmenter pitched all six innings to earn the win.

Huntington Valley began the tournament the way it ended -- by beating

Cypress.

A 10-6 first-round win in the double-elimination event included a 4-1

first-inning lead for Huntington Valley, highlighted by singles by Luke,

Higgins, Parmenter, Chairez and Barnes. Parmenter led off the fifth with

a booming home run and Higgins added a clutch two-run single in the

inning and scored once more in the sixth to cap the victory.

Higgins finished with three hits and Parmenter, Chairez and Phillips

each had two hits.

Huntington Valley came back to bomb East Anaheim, 13-3. They broke a

1-1 first inning tie by scoring four, second inning runs, for a 5-1 edge.

East Anaheim drew to within 5-3 in the third, but Huntington Valley came

back with five more runs in the bottom of the inning for a 10-3 lead. A

three run sixth inning iced the win.

In the District 62 finals:

Relegated early to the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination

tournament, Huntington Valley Little League came up with an amazing

six-game win streak to win the league’s first district championship.

In the District 62 championship series, they defeated previously

unbeaten Ocean View in two games, 9-1 and 8-2.

In the series opener, Parmenter got the win by dominating Ocean View

with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

Huntington Valley’s bats came alive in the fourth inning with a

leadoff double by Nick Mazzone and doubles by Parmenter and Dave Folger.

Singles by Chairez, Tanner Phillips, Higgins, Luke and a double by Ryan

Little added up to a seven run outburst.

Huntington Valley added two more runs in the fifth inning to complete

a 9-1 victory.

Beau Amaral had two hits and scored the only Ocean View run. Starter

Cole Tischer pitched three strong innings and allowed Huntington Valley

just one hit.

In the championship game Wednesday, terrific pitching by both sides

kept the game scoreless until the fifth inning. Amaral no-hit Huntington

Valley for three innings and Alex Barnes gave up just one hit to Ocean

View during that period.

Ocean View scored twice in the fifth inning to grab the lead but in

the bottom of the inning, Huntington Valley rallied.

Following three consecutive walks and an error, Barnes delivered an

RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. Singles by Brian Schwartz and Chairez,

and a double by Folger, helped Huntington Valley complete an eight-run

inning and an 8-2 triumph.

The Huntington Valley All-Stars, managed by Nick Mazzone, also

included Alex Holtz, Jake Gordon, Christian Slaton and Matt Reza.