Baseball: Bronco All-Stars triumph

July 1, 2016 7:17 PM PT

The Newport Beach Pony Baseball 11-year-old All-Stars won the Central Region District Championship, completed Sunday in Cypress.

Newport Beach defeated Cypress, 13-8, in the final, erasing a 5-2 deficit when Tyler Duss hit a grand slam in the fourth inning.

Dustin Miller was the winning pitcher, working four strong innings, while Duss earned the save with three innings of relief.

Andrew Miehe hit a two-run home run in the first inning for Newport Beach, for which Miller, Luca Curci and Troy Jenkins had multiple hits.

Nate Chambliss, Fischer Franczyk, Nick Salmon and Conrad Olivier-Meier played well defensively.

The team is managed by Shawn Miller, with assistance from coaches Jim Chambliss and Mark Duss.

Newport Beach received a first-round bye, then defeated Santa Ana, 13-1, as Curci earned the pitching victory with three scoreless innings.

Tyler Duss, Miehe and Miller each had two hits and three runs batted in, while Salman, Colin Leigh and Peter Bonin added hits for the winners.

Cameron Maloney made two spectacular plays in left field against Santa Ana.

The team opened the Region Tournament by defeating Olive on Thursday and will play the winner of Friday’s game between Newport Harbor and Irvine A in a winner’s bracket semifinal on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the Fountain Valley Sports Complex.

— Reader submission