San Marino’s National Little League’s 8 & 9-year-old baseball all-star team, led by Manager Jason Rome and Assistant Coaches Bryan Merryman, John Morning, and Spencer McCroskey, downed Pasadena American Little League’s all-stars to win the District 17 Tournament Championship. Tuesday evening’s victory capped an undefeated tournament run for San Marino as they compiled four consecutive wins. San Marino won the game 6-5 in a tense battle that was neck-and-neck until the final out of the 6th inning. San Marino’s pitchers in the final game were starter Miles Morning, who threw one of his best games of the season; Grant O’Mara, coming in strong in relief, and Matthew McCroskey, who closed out the game, pitching through the nail-biting seconds of the 6th. The infield played strong defense, led by Grant Walker at 3rd base, Ryan Fong at 2nd base, and Jack Rome at catcher. The fearless outfield – Daniel Jeffries, Sam Merryman, Jamie Chung, Luke Delgado, and Chase Mena – caught several hard-hit fly balls, including a diving catch by Mena in the 6th, one of the best defensive plays of the game, that helped secure the win.
Andrew Rindone and Vincent Huo rallied the team in support throughout the tournament while they recovered from injury. The team looks forward to hanging their championship banner on Opening Day next season!
