It’s All Gravy!
- Updated: July 17, 2019
“It’s all gravy.” That is one of the things the Santa Margarita National Little League(SMNLL) team likes to remind themselves of as they compete on the diamond. The gravy must have tasted really good these last few days. SMNLL defeated Aliso Viejo(AVLL) Little League 5-2 on Tuesday night to win Section 10 in front of a large crowd at North Mission Viejo Little League.
The competition for claiming the title of Section 10 Champion began with four Orange County teams. The four teams were working for the chance to advance to the Southern California State Tournament(Please check out the coverage of Sweetwater and more by Rebbi Rabbs on Calisportsnews) which is also hosted by North Mission Viejo Little League at Marty Russo Youth Athletic Park. The winner of that contest gets to go to (hot) San Bernardino for a chance to make it to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (Photo below taken by Mark Cohen. I was happy to see my buddy wearing an appropriate shirt for the night’s action.)
On Saturday AVLL defeated East Anaheim Little League and SMNLL got by Ocean View Little League in an exciting nine-inning duel. Games on Sunday and Monday weeded out the field to give us the Tuesday night championship battle.
AVLL struck first on Tuesday by pushing across a run in the second inning. However, SMNLL countered right back in the top of third with three runs. The game remained close throughout, but one could feel the momentum really start to swing as SMNLL got out of a bases-loaded jam in the home half of the third.
The game saw two well-hit home runs. Jordan Merian hit one out for AVLL and Tyler Dunning blasted a big shot for SMNLL. A really gritty pitching performance was turned in by Brady Ford of SMNLL. He helped keep a very good hitting AVLL team at bay by throwing a great curveball. Ford mentioned that “My location was very good tonight.” (The photo below was also snapped by this reporter.)
SM flashed the leather a lot during this tournament and Ford added that “I love my defense!” Will Casarietti is part of that defense and he credits a lot of his team’s success to “really good team chemistry.” The SMNLL team is pretty on message because I heard similar thoughts from Manager Matt Degulis. He pointed out his team’s “great culture.” Degulis added that “They love hanging out with each other.”
Going forward SMNLL plays at 12:00 on Saturday, July 20th. They will face Sherman Oaks Southern Little League. Degulis said that in this next round “Everyone is going to have to pitch and everyone is going to have to hit.” So the league that sent a team to South Williamsport very recently is back battling the best competition in Southern California over the next couple of weeks. They are hoping a lot more gravy will be served. (Credit for the photo below goes to Mark Cohen again. Much better photos of the team with the banner can be found elsewhere, but I tried.)
Here is the roster for SMNLL:
Manager-Matt Degulis
Coach-Kevin Dunning
Coach-John Casarietti
Players: Brady Ford, Tyler Dunning, Will Casarietti, Grant Degulis, Ben Finnegan, Cameron Titterness, Ryan Lopas, Mike DeFrancesca, Jaxon Lancina, Diego Avila, Evan Hall, and Sam Crouse
FINAL SECTION 10 NOTES:
***One cool story I found about dealt with a superb player for Ocean View Little League. Donovan Farrell made the best catch I’ve seen this year back at Fountain Valley. He also made some incredible plays in their game against SMNLL. He was most definitely one of OVLL’s stars! Farrell also had an interesting experience involving the Los Angeles Dodgers last year. He caught a home run ball hit by Manny Machado during the playoffs at Dodger Stadium. It happened to be on his birthday! The excited(future Gold Glove winner?) even got to meet Machado while enjoying some media attention.
***Everyone at North Mission Viejo Little League and District 68 has been super kind and helpful. Try to make it to a game over the next two weeks. I think you will experience a great baseball atmosphere. If you can’t make it to the fields there is another fun way to experience the action. Dan Moore does an excellent job announcing the action on the Mixlr app. Search DANYO14
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