SC Bayern girls have strong showing

After completing an undefeated regular season, the SC Bayern Red girls’ Under-15 soccer team from Huntington Beach had high aspirations as it entered the prestigious State Cup tournament.

SC Bayern Red managed to make it to the championship contest, held in Lancaster on April 24, before losing a close contest to the Central Coast Condors from Arroyo Grande, 3-2.

During the tournament, SC Bayern scored 23 goals while giving up only five. A balanced attack saw nine different players score, including Lauren Davis, Amanda George, Hannah Grunbaum, Kelly Nernes, Megan Pasternak, Rikki Porter, Sydney Stout, Kasey Valencia and Zoe Zimmerer.

The defense led by Jayde Bahrami, Lauren Barone, Than Bercher, Chloe Kossick, Marissa Kotch, Audrey Rodriguez and goalie Molly Grant, shut down opponents.

The team is coached by Armando Rocha and assistant Roger Kotch.

Huntington Valley Little League Majors Division

Tigers 8, Trojans 7: Jimmy Meehan pitched 4 1/3 solid innings for the Tigers, striking out eight and giving up two home runs (one each to Trojans players James Morton and Bailee Balboa). Danny Campbell came in to close and earned the win. Tigers catcher Hank Skolnick hit two home runs and drove in three runs. Meehan, Daryl Nucum, Anthony Segovia, Campbell, Patrick Crossen, Will Thomas, James Hamill and Chad Rose all had hits.

— Shavon Pierce, Community Correspondent

Titans 7, Tigers 1: The Tigers’ win started with outstanding pitching by Ryan Burke for four innings, and Patrick Hultgen closed with two strong innings.

Hits by Jake Barton, Kobie Anton, Luke Young and two hits from Jimmy Davis helped the Titans.

Titans 8, Bulldogs 5: The Titans took the early lead and used at two-run homer by Ryan Burke. Jake Barton, Kobie Anton, Ruben Gutierrez, Zach Corey, Patrick Hultgen and Jimmy Davis also had hits. The Bulldogs were led by a home run from Nathan Hoscoe and pitching by Jordan Kirkenslager and Curtis Coburn.

— Lisa Anton, Community Correspondent

Minor A Division

Tar Heels 11, Irish 8: Both teams pumped it up working hard to entertain by making awesome plays and killer hits. Westin Hipke of the Tar Heels hit his first home run ever, a three-run home run, bringing in Zack Jury and Jack Morrell. The Irish didn’t go down without a fight and kept their head in the game until the very end.

— Noelle Hipke, Community Correspondent

Ocean View Little League Majors Division

Angels 11, A’s 5: The Angels took it to the A’s Saturday as the Halo’s bats finally came to life. The Angels first time at bat saw hits from the first eight batters.

Logan Pouelsen, Michael Green both doubled while Nathan Crocker, Matthew Rolfes, Kyle Conte, Ben Myers, Tommy Kemp and Nolan Strout all singled to rack up five runs in the first. Michael Green drove in the sixth run of the day for the Angels by driving a double off of the left-field wall.

The Angels defense came through as Devon Ferlisi pitched three strong innings allowing only two hits and one run. Matthew Whetstone came to Ferlisi’s assistance when he backed up a missed play and quickly got the ball back to the infield, keeping two A’s runners from scoring.

— Mark Rolfes, Community Correspondent

Dodgers 13, A’s 2: The Dodgers slugged three home runs in the victory. Hunter Jackson wasted no time in the first inning with a bomb over the right-field fence. Not to be outdone, Sasha Kaboli airmailed a ball over center that was later found somewhere in the Seal Beach area.

Answering in true competitive fashion, Nick Pratto screamed one over in his last at bat. Backing these efforts were doubles by Braydon Salzman and Blake Richards.

Defense stayed tight with Salzman on the mound, allowing no runs to score during his four innings. Adam Carles came in as solid relief in the sixth to close out the game.

Dodgers 3, Angels 0: Veteran pitching aces Nick Pratto of the Dodgers and Logan Pouelsen of the Angels set out on a cold and blustery night to set the record straight. With both teams tied for first in the Majors division, the opposing pitchers were ready for battle.

And battle they did. After six innings of nearly flawless pitching, both teams remained hitless. With very few balls put in play, the only solid attempt came from Michael Green of the Angels, whose line drive to right was expertly caught by Joey Durbin, ending the fifth inning.

With Pouelsen and Pratto at league pitching limits, fresh blood arrived on the mound for the seventh inning. The Dodgers came out fighting and were able to put key runners on base through a combination of hits and walks.

Runs were batted in by Braydon Salzman, Blake Richards and Hunter Jackson to put the Dodgers up by three in the middle of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Jackson came to the mound for the Dodgers and retired the Angel batters to complete the no-hitter.

Angels 3, Cubs 0: The Angels’ Michael Green earned his first complete game win of the season, giving up only one walk and five hits while racking up eight strikeouts. Green was supported in the field with great defense, like when Angels shortstop Tommy Kemp who fired a bulls-eye throw from deep in the hole to first base for the put out.

The Cubs had five hits, all singles coming from Chad Minato, Luke Williams, Chase Nelson, Patrick Pockels and Eric Anderson. Minato threw for five innings, allowing only five base runners in Logan Pouelsen, Green, Ben Meyers, Nolan Strout and Dylan Chennault.

— Mark Rolfes, Community Correspondent

Minor A Division

Hot Rods 6, Bats 5: Cobie Donovan for the Hot Rods and Seth Knorr for the Bats provided strong pitching performances, with each pitcher throwing for five innings. The end of the third inning found the score tied at 3.

Base hits by Donovan, Hunter Custudio, Jacob Hathcock, Ethan Redira, Blake Beyett, Jeremy Westerbeck, and a double by Ben Quezada for the Hot Rods, along with singles by Colton Meyer, Jason St. Pierre, Seth Knorr, and a double by Oliver Keaton for the Bats, had all added to the score. In the bottom for the fifth, with the bases loaded, Redira slammed a double, scoring three, and bringing Hot Rods ahead by as much. The Bats rallied in the sixth adding two more to the board before Will Folwer, fielding a grounder for the unassisted out at first, ended the game

— Kimberly Hathcock, Community Correspondent

Minor C Division

Threshers vs Blue Claws: The Threshers had a great game against the Blue Claws. Tristan Kennedy and Samuel Mejia hit doubles. Hunter Smith, Nick Skorheim, Sean Headley, Jimmy Campbell, and Joseph Vardayo had two RBIs apiece. Porter Reynolds and Lucas Pantel each had an RBI as well

On defense, Pantel turned a double play, tagging the runner from first and throwing to first base for the force-out. Jimmy Campbell turned a hat trick at first base, with two assists from Tristan Kennedy. Pantel and Campbell were each given a game ball for their outstanding effort.

— Cheryl Reynolds, Community Correspondent

T-Ball Division

Jayhawks vs. Yellowjackets: Big hits were recorded by both teams, including Kyle Palmer, Jack Feria, Kaelyn Arnold and Matthew Severin for the Jayhawks. The game ball was awarded to the Jayhawks’ Kaden Chase

— Kevin Carlin, Community Correspondent

Farm Division

Waves vs. Trojans: Despite the wet field and the occasional light drizzle, the Waves played one of their finest games of the season. Defensively, the Waves were led by the solid gloves of Ian Shafer and Daniel Kotkosky who each turned unassisted double plays to end the third and fifth innings. At the plate, the Waves turned in yet another impressive performance with Jake Alvarez, Micah Kennedy, Collin McCarthy, and Noah Near all slugging balls which reached the outfield fences. Stone Gabriele and Daniel Shaw also remained hot at the plate, both going a perfect six for six for the game. Player of the Game honors were awarded to Daniel Kotkosky for his stellar defense and for hitting the deepest ball of the night, a towering left field shot in the first inning.

— Jose Alvarez, Community Correspondent