Eastlake Pony Baseball made headlines last season by advancing two all-star teams to the second round of postseason play.
The league’s Mustang 9U team qualified for the Southern California/Southwest Region tournament by placing third at the East-South Section tournament.
The team ended its season one win away from advancing to the regional championship game.
Eastlake’s Bronco 12U team qualified for the Southwest Region tournament by finishing fourth at the East-South Section tournament. The team went on to win the region tournament with a dramatic double-elimination game victory against San Diego Competitive to advance to the super region tournament.
Eastlake played five games at the super region tournament, advancing to the challenger bracket final to end its season.
The Bronco team made history by becoming the first Eastlake Pony team to win a postseason championship banner.
It was a record-breaking season for the fledgling program that was founded three years ago.
The Eastlake sluggers are back at it again this summer.
A sizable number of players off last year’s Bronco team are now playing at the Pony-13 level this year and seem to be having even more success.
Eastlake has advanced to the upcoming West Zone tournament in Whittier after securing a berth in Monday’s super region championship game.
Eastlake fell, 5-0, to Redondo Sunset A to send super region champion Redondo Sunset A directly to this year’s Pony-13 World Series.
Eastlake dueled San Diego Competitive and Walnut, the remaining two teams in the super region four-team matrix, for seeding position in the upcoming zone tournament.
San Diego Competitive defeated Walnut, 5-2, in Tuesday’s opening game to advance to meet Eastlake in the nightcap of the double-header.
Eastlake lost, 4-3, to San Diego Competitive to earn the Southern California No. 2 seed.
San Diego Competitive enters the West Zone tournament as the Southern California No. 1 seed while Walnut is the No. 3 seed from Southern California.
The West Zone tournament features eight teams. San Francisco, Scottsdale (Ariz.), Foster City, Camarillo and Hilo (Hawaii) join the three Southern California qualifiers.
Double-elimination play started Thursday with Eastlake facing Hilo in a 4 p.m. contest.
Second-round play in both the winners and losers brackets continues Friday. The Eastlake-Hilo winner advances to meet the winner between Foster City and Camarillo while the losers pair up in an elimination game.
Two teams are eliminated following Friday’s games. Winners advance to play on Saturday, with the field narrowed to the semifinals.
“The team is very excited to play Hawaii in the first zone tournament,” Eastlake president Valerie Jauregui said.
The West Zone tournament wraps up in whirlwind fashion. Losers bracket games are scheduled at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, with the winners advancing to the semifinals at 4 and 6:30 p.m. that same day.
Any required double-elimination games will be played Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. The championship game is scheduled Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
The West Zone champion and runner-up both advance to the Pony-13 International World Series scheduled July 26-29 in Whittier.
The eight-team international field also includes the East Zone champion, South Zone champion, Redondo Sunset A, Seoul (South Korea), Tijuana and host Whittier.
Interestingly, Sweetwater Union High School District schools resume classes on Monday. Should Eastlake advance to the Pony-13 World Series, an extended summer vacation may be required.
This year’s Eastlake Pony-13 all-star roster includes Kiera Asprec, Alejandro (Alex) Leyva, Charlie Singleton, Makai Corpuz, Kalani Jauregui, Carlos Quiones, Andres Johnson, Joey Kellmer, Eddie Sanchez, Luis Alfredo Sosa, Obed Gonzalez , James (J.D.) Corcoran and Marcus Ramirez.
J.J. Jauregui serves as team manager. Assistant coaches include Joe Kellmer and Mario Medrano.
“The summer has not been just baseball,” Valerie Jauregui said. “The team has had gatherings at the beach and pool parties with fire pit huddles making s’mores to end the evening. Some of the kids took a mini vacation to spend time with family during this all-star season.
A great deal of practice and dedication from the players and parents makes a great team.
A special thank you goes to coaches J.J., Joe and Mario for their endless faith in the 13 players.”
Game on
Eastlake’s intrepid Pony-13 played nine games to advance to Monday’s super region championship game in Whittier.
Eastlake began all-star tournament play June 15 in El Cajon as part of the South-East Section tournament.
The team lost its first game, 6-5, to the Emerald Hurricanes but battled back with three elimination game victories to secure the runner-up position in the six-team tournament to advance to the Southern California Southwest Region tournament.
Eastlake defeated Ramona (12-7), the San Marcos Hammers (28-2) and Emerald Aces (6-4) to advance along with section champion Tecolote.
The region tournament included four teams — two qualifiers from each section. The top three finishers qualified to advance to the super region tournament.
Eastlake won the region championship banner — the second for the program in as many years —after defeating San Diego Competitive, 5-4, June 23 at Emerald Pony in El Cajon to secure a berth in the super region tournament.
Eastlake won both its games at the region tournament after opening play with a 10-2 win over Chula Vista North.
Chula Vista North defeated Tecolote, 7-5, to advance to the super region as the third-place team.
San Diego Competitive advanced as the second place team from the region tournament.
Navigating through the 16-team super region tournament is a challenging feat but one the Eastlake sluggers managed to accomplish with a winning attitude.
Eastlake opened play with a 15-4 victory against Wilshire last Friday and followed that up with a 7-6 win over Sierra Madre on Saturday to remain in the winners bracket.
Eastlake slammed Heartwell, 11-1, on Sunday while playing its third game in as many days to earn a berth in Monday’s super region championship game.
Eastlake is among two San Diego County team to advance to the West Zone tournament, joining San Diego Competitive.
San Diego Competitive won its first game at the super region tournament, 11-1, over La Quinta on July 11 but dropped a 4-2 decision to Heartwell on Saturday.
San Diego Competitive played a pair of elimination games on Sunday, defeating Wilshire (7-4) and La Quinta (5-4), to advance to Monday’s elimination game against Heartwell.
San Diego Competitive defeated Heartwell, 14-1, to advance to Tuesday’s seeding game against Walnut, which had eliminated Cypress by a score of 10-7 on Monday.
Chula Vista North finished 2-2 in the super region tournament while playing in the bracket hosted by Glendora Pony.
CV North won its opening game, 11-1, over Simi Valley on July 11 but lost its second game, 17-7, to Walnut on Saturday.
CVN staved off elimination with a 14-7 win over Orangecrest on Sunday morning but dropped a 6-3 decision to Cypress later that evening to bow out of championship contention.
Stat attack
Eastlake won seven consecutive games to reach the super region final.
Offensive leaders include Quinones (catcher), Corpuz (left fielder), 12-year-old Kalani Jauregui (third baseman), Singleton (first baseman) and Leyva. Singleton leads the team with doubles; Corpuz has two home runs.
Asprec and Sanchez are the team’s road-runners. The Eastlake president calls Asprec “our heart of the team and a hard nose player keeping the boys on their toes.”
Leading the pitching rotation are Corpuz, Singleton and Leyva with two wins each. Jauregui picked up the win in the regional championship game. Mid-relievers include Asprec, Kellmer and Sosa.
Gonzalez and Ramirez have supplied clutch hits coming off the bench while Andres Johnson has been a defensive asset patrolling center field.
Eastlake’s Mustang 10U team finished as section runners-up.
The team’s lineup included Mario Medrano, Xavier Jauregui, Gerardo Covarrubias, Jonathan Sanchez, Giovanni Muro, Ian Dougherty, Dylan Poukkula, Kenneth (K.J.) Norton, Josue Avila, José Antonio Aguilar, Isaac Rodriguez and Santiago Martinez.
The Eastlake team scored 71 runs in the first-round tournament. Offensive leaders include Jauregui, Sanchez, Medrano, Covarrubias and Dougherty.
Pitching leaders included Covarrubias, Muro and Poukkula.
PONY BASEBALL SUMMER TOURNAMENT SCOREBOARD
Pony-13 All-Stars
Super Region
At Whittier/Glendora
Thursday, July 11
San Diego Competitive 11, La Quinta 1
Heartwell 6, Fountain Valley 5
Walnut 12, Pacentia 2
Chula Vista North 11, Simi Valley 1
Friday, July 12
Eastlake 15, Wilshire 5
Sierra Madre 15, Norwalk 6
Redondo Sunset A 10, Orangecrest 0
Cypress 12, Glendora 1
Saturday, July 13
Heartwell 4, San Diego Competitive 2
Eastlake 7, Sierra Madre 6
Walnut 17, Chula Vista North 7
Redondo Sunset A 10, Cypress 0
La Quinta 6, Fountain Valley 4 (elimination game)
Wilshire 8, Norwalk 0 (elimination game)
Simi Valley 6, Placentia 4 (elimination game)
Orangecrest 9, Glendora 7 (elimination game)
Sunday, July 14
Eastlake 11, Heartwell 1 (winners bracket semifinal)
Redondo Sunset A 11, Walnut 1 (winners bracket semifinal)
San Diego Competitive 7, Wilshire 4 (elimination game)
La Quinta 10, Sierra Madre 7 (elimination game)
San Diego Competitive 5, La Quinta 4 (elimination game)
Cypress 10, Simi Valley 4 (elimination game)
Chula Vista North 14, Orangecrest 7 (elimination game)
Cypress 6, Chula Vista North 3 (elimination game)
Monday, July 15
San Diego Competitive 14, Heartwell 1 (elimination game)
Walnut 10, Cypress 7 (elimination game)
Redondo Sunset A 5, Eastlake 0 (Redondo Sunset A advances to Pony-13 World Series)
Tuesday, July 16
San Diego Competitive 5, Walnut 2
San Diego Competitive 4, Eastlake 3
Note: Super Region winner advances to Pony-13 World Series, next three teams advance to West Zone tournament July 18-21 in Whittier
WEST ZONE TOURNAMENT
July 18-21 in Whittier
(Double-Elimination)
Thursday, July 18
San Francisco 7, Walnut 4
San Diego Competitive 14, Scottsdale (Ariz.) 5
Foster City 2, Camarillo 1
Hilo (Hawaii) 4, Eastlake 2
Friday, July 19
Walnut 5,Scottsdale (Ariz.) 3 (elimination bracket)
Eastlake 5, Camarillo 4 (elimination bracket)
San Diego Competitive 14, San Francisco 6 (winners bracket)
Foster City vs. Hilo (Hawaii) 14, Foster City 4 (winners bracket)
Saturday, July 20
Walnut vs. San Francisco, 11 a.m. (elimination game)
Eastlake vs. Foster City , 1:30 p.m. (elimination game)
San Diego Competitive vs. San Francisco-Walnut winner, 4 p.m. (semifinal game)
Hilo (Hawaii) vs. Eastlake-Foster City winner, 6:30 p.m. (semifinal game)
Sunday, July 21
Double-elimination games at 10:30 a.m. (if necessary)
Championship game at 1:30 p.m.
