The Canyon Hills 9/10 year old All Stars started out their tournament play a little rusty on the defensive side against a very good hitting Upland National team. Blake Slagle started at pitcher and had a fine performance going 2 2/3’s allowing 8 hits, 3 walks, and 2 strikeouts on 77 pitches. There were some notable highlights on defense. Conor Denton made a great recovery on a wild pitch, then tossing the ball to Blake Slagle to get the runner out at home. Later in the same inning Triston Morgan made a beautiful diving catch out in leftfield with bases loaded which only allowed one run on that play. 

Sean Beck led off Canyon Hills bottom of the first with a seven pitch walk. Sean would advance to second on a passed ball and with one out Nathan Gurrola hits a single to leftfield scoring Beck on the play giving Canyon Hills a 1-0 lead after one inning.

Chino American was able to tie the score at 1-1 in their half on the second, but Canyon Hills bounced back big with five runs scored in the bottom of the inning. Jordan Hernandez led off the second inning with a double over the right fielder’s head. Adam Seminaris would later draw a one out walk. With one out and runners on 1st and 2nd, Gabriel Amancio hit a single up the middle scoring Hernandez from 2nd. Beck would once again draw a walk loading the bases for Blake Slagle. Slagle would then knock the first pitch just inside the foul line in right field scoring Seminaris and Amancio for a two run double. Beck would score next on a sacrifice fly to left field hit by Gurrola. Slagle would finish the scoring attack by stealing home on a passed ball.

Gurrola would relieve Dehnert at pitcher with one out in the 3rd inning. Gurrola would then get the next two batters out on six pitches, striking one of them out on a mean change up.

Hernandez led off the bottom of the 3rd inning with a walk, followed with a walk by Conner Airey. Seminaris would advance to 1st base on a hit batter loading the bases for Triston Morgan. Not being out done by Seminaris, Morgan also decides to take one for the team with the second hit batter of the inning scoring Hernandez on the play. With one out and bases still loaded. Slagle hits a single up the middle scoring Airey. Next up Gurrola would score Seminaris and Morgan with a single to left. Slagle would once again steal home on a wild pitch for the eleventh and last run of the game.

Seminaris would close out the ball game on the mound with two outs and bases loaded by getting the batter to pop up for the last out for the game, sealing the first win for Canyon Hills with an 11-1 victory.

Slagle took the mound first and pitched a solid first two innings with 3 K’s, followed by Sean Beck who threw one scoreless inning. Connor Airey closed it out on the mound in a tough bottom of the fourth, the Ontario Eastern team with runners on first and third Airey gets the Ontario Eastern batter to hit a ground ball to SS Gurolla who flips to Beck and on to Jordan Hernandez for a game ending 6-4-3 double play, which allowed Canyon Hills to end the game in a 10-0 victory after 4 innings of play.

The 9 & 10 year old All Stars are on a roll! They finished off the tough Ontario Western All-Stars in a dramatic come-from-behind-win in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The starting pitcher for Canyon Hills, Blake Slagle, had another strong performance. With solid defensive plays from the infield of Jordan Hernandez, Adam Seminaris, Sean Beck, and Nathan Gurrola, Ontario Western was held scoreless in the first inning.

Canyon Hills started off the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. Blake Slagle and Gurrola patiently drew back-to-back walks as the pitcher struggled to find the strike zone. Brandon Dehnert launched a double passed the center fielder to score Slagle from second. Dehnert was thrown out returning to second base, but on the throw the ever wary Gurrola came in to score the second and final run in the inning. 2-0

Slagle continued to throw strikes in the second inning, but Ontario Western was able to put the bat on the ball and tie the score 2-2. In the bottom of the inning, Canyon Hills was held scoreless despite two hard hit balls from Jordan and Seminaris. Conor Denton “took one for the team” and advanced to second when the Gabriel Amancio beat out the throw for an infield hit. Both were stranded on base. 2-2

Slagle struck out two batters in the top off the third and held Ontario scoreless. Slagle started the bottom of the inning by drawing his second walk of the game. He advanced to third and scored on two consecutive wild pitches to give Canyon Hills the lead 3-2.

Ontario answered in the top of the fourth. With a runner on second and third, the batter hit a long fly ball which was caught by center fielder Dehnert. The runner on second failed to tag-up and was thrown out for the final out of the inning. The runner on third base had tagged-up and crossed home plate. The run was allowed to count on a controversial call by the umpire. Canyon Hills did not score in the bottom of the fourth despite great at bats from Wyatt Raasch, Seminaris, and Triston Morgan. 3-3.

Connor Airey took the mound to start the fifth. Connor Yost gave up his body to stop a ground ball for the first out of the inning. Ontario scored on back-to-back hits. Airey put an end to the scoring by striking out the next two batters. The bottom of the inning Yost and Gurrola were robbed of hits by two outstanding plays from Ontario’s 3rd baseman. Canyon Hills was held scoreless and Ontario took their first lead of the game. 3-4

Airey returned to the mound in the sixth inning. The first batter nearly took off his head with a line drive shot, but using his cat-like reflexes Airey snagged the line drive for the first out. Beck grabbed a line drive of his own for the second out of the inning. Airey struck out the third batter for the final out and giving his team an emotional boost.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth, Brandon Newton, hit a triple. After the second out was recorded, Morgan came in to pinch run for Newton. The fleet footed Morgan stole home when the Ontario catcher could not find the ball under his feet. With two outs, slugger Denton blasted a ground-rule double over the center field fence. Denton took third on a wild pitch. Amancio came in to pinch run for Denton. Semanaris stepped up to the plate and promptly slapped the ball into left field for what should have been the game-winning hit. But Airey had not yet batted in the game and Amancio was held at third base to avoid a forfeit. Airey was the next batter and lofted the ball into right field, scoring Amancio for the game winning hit!!

A great win and a total team effort!!