Todd ends game in grand fashion

Hunter Todd will never forget the game between the Fountain Valley Little League Majors Angels and Yankees on March 23.

Todd hit a walk-off grand slam as the Angels won, 9-5. The big blast was his first home run in his Little League career.

It was an action-filled game with singles by the Angels’ Ryan Foster, Jake Arnold, Timmy Knowles, Patrick Pham and Ben Hill, who also had a triple. Angels starting pitcher Tommy Mendoza went four great innings with no earned runs and seven strikeouts.

The Yankees added to the action with singles by Kyle Adams, Jim Patterson and Josh Maltby, who singled twice. Bryce Ash doubled and Nicky Malone had a double and a triple. At the end of six innings, it was tied at 5.

Ryan Foster took the mound for the Halos in the top of the seventh and shut down the Yankees. In the bottom of the seventh, the Angels’ Peralta singled, Wilson walked and Gonzalez reached on an error to the load the bases.

Todd hadn’t had a hit all night. Then, a few pitches later, Todd’s bat connected to a ball like no other had before and the ball sailed over the Field 15 fence. The team went wild as the crowd erupted in cheers.

— Amy Dechene, Community Correspondent

Basketball

Waves take NJB crown: The Huntington Beach Surf City Waves sixth-grade boys’ basketball team won the NJB All-Net National Tournament over the weekend.

The championship game score was, 72-65, over the Rancho Santa Margarita Eagles. The Waves also won the NJB All-Net Orange County Sixth Grade Green Division Championship this season with a 13-1 record. Coach Stu Betti said another noteworthy fact was that the team only had four sixth-graders, with many kids playing up a level or two.

The starting five included sixth-graders Isaiah Christon and Braden Meyers, fifth-grader Jayson Jones and fourth-graders David Atencio and Bryson Betti.

Other team members included sixth-graders Mitch King and Alyssa Atencio, as well as fifth-graders Kyle McCauley and Miles McCord. Assisting Stu Betti was Chuck McCauley.

Water Polo

Huntington fares well at Orange County Cup: The Huntington Beach Water Polo Club boys’ Under-12 team earned a third-place finish last weekend at the Tru-West Orange County Cup tournament, the 12-team, at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine.

In match play, Huntington downed Northwood (6-5) and Newport Beach (12-8) before falling to SoCal (11-9) in the division semifinals. In the third-place game, Huntington was edged by United, 11-10.

The tournament helped prepare Huntington for the upcoming Junior Olympics, which are July 31 through Aug. 3 in Los Angeles.

The Huntington players are Gabriel Duplantier, Matthew Robert, Keegan Coleman, Joshua Schwenk, Skyler Munatones, Michael Goldbach, Elliott Fukino, PJ Lowers, Kevin Lee, Elias Lule, Michael Allende, James Vlachonassios and Alex Nathan. The 12-U boys’ team is coached by Sasa Branisavljevic.

Ocean View Little League

Majors Division

Dodgers 14, Yankees 0: Braydon Salzman threw a no-hitter for the Dodger, allowing only two walks. Behind the dish came solid support by Nick Pratto and Ricky Martinez.

Hunter Jackson hit two home runs for Manager Jeff Pratto’s club, going three for three.

Angels win a pair: The Angels won both ends of a twin bill, 2-1 over the Red Sox and 2-0 over the Cubs. In the opener against the Red Sox, Logan Pouelsen, Michael Green and Matthew Rolfes combined to hold the Sox to one hit and one unearned run over six innings. Defensive highlights came when Nathan Crocker made a lunging catch of a foul ball. Offensively, the Angels bats are starting to heat up as Pouelsen drilled his first homer of the season over the right-field scoreboard. Nolan Strout also contributed at the plate with a hard-hit single up the middle. In the second game for the Angels, Pouelsen pitched five strong innings before turning the ball over to Rolfes, who closed out the sixth with three quick outs. Green pounded the Cubs pitching by hitting a double and triple in consecutive at-bats, driving in the necessary runs to ensure victory. Ben Myers singled and scored and Devon Ferlisi came through with his first hit of the season.

— Mark Rolfes, Community Correspondent

Minor A Division

Red Wings 15, Knights 9: It was a breakout game for the Red Wing hitters as they tallied 18 hits to defeat an impressive Knights team Saturday at OVLL. Landen Hill, Andrew DeCarlo and Kyle Haynes led the way, with each player going three for four, including a double. Marcus Flum broke out in a big way with two doubles and a single at the plate.

The Knights mounted a rally in the third inning with four runs on four hits by Moore, Wiley, Mayorga and Anderegg. The score closed to 10-7 in the fifth, but the Red Wings rallied in the top of the sixth, highlighted by Mason Stinson’s two-run single.

Jonathan Mohammed, Zack St. Hilaire and Miles Hubbard all added hits to the Red Wing attack, with Kouji Oyama and Ricardo Ochoa both playing heads-up defense.

Minor B Division

Rockhounds 15, Hooks 4: The Rockhounds offense included big hits from Edward Pelc and Harry Dean, who doubled and tripled.

— Patricia Pelc, Community Correspondent

Minor C Division

Threshers vs. Riverdogs: The Minor C Threshers had a tough game Tuesday against the Riverdogs. It was a defensive battle from the beginning, but there is no defense for the sixth-inning home run hit by the Threshers’ Samuel Mejia.

Threshers vs. Raptors: On offense, the Threshors had some big hits. Tristan Kennedy had two doubles, Lucas Pantel added one more and Porter Reynolds also had his first double of the season. Joseph Vardayo had two singles and an RBI, as did Nate Skorheim. On defense, third baseman Alec Muirhead tagged out the runner and second baseman Nick Skorheim snagged an infield fly.

— Kevin Reynolds, Community Correspondent

Farm Division

Tarheels vs. Trojans: The Tarheels continued to scorch the baseball as A.J. Hurtado led a balanced offense by belting his second home run of the season.

Hurtado nearly slugged another home run, but his line drive smacked off the top of the right-field fence for a long single. Isaac Ballinas, Quinn Ortiz, Nathan Halloran, Jackson Harris, Gavin Kells, Brendon Paduano, Trent Cleboski, Elijah Herrera, David Drigla and William Lawler had big days at the plate for the Tarheels.

— Daniel Lewis, Community Correspondent