Ralph Trejo’s So Cal Bombers awed the fans at Santa Fe Springs with a prodigious display of power this weekend in SoCal ASA A/B league play, enroute to a perfect 5-0 record in SoCal ASA A/B league play. The Bombers defeated arch rival Team Rainey 4-2 Saturday afternoon, then pounded out 7 home runs Sunday morning against the NorCal Mavericks — including 3 in a row and 6 in one inning, and finished up the day with an 8-1 win over the “Young Bucks”, Clyde Bennett’s 23 and under team. Young Anthony Martinez (Amigos) looked strong in his season debut for the 23 and under “Young Bucks”, against upper division competition, shutting out the Bombers for 5 solid innings before the Bombers went to work in the final two frames.
Mike Butler homered for the Bombers on Saturday and Sunday, while Arturo Solano had two home runs in the 9am game against the Mavericks. Dan Winnick, Nate Devine and Jason Porto also got into the act, with homers for the Bombers on Sunday. Butler came up big Saturday against his former team (Team Rainey), hitting a solo home run to straight away center and making a spectacular diving foul line catch against Rainey to end an inning. In the “feature” game between the Southland’s top two teams, TeamRainey took a 2-0 lead, but the Bombers scored a pair to tie it, and two more for the win, as Tony Peeples pitched well down the stretch for the win, outdueling Rainey’s Bricklen Anderson.
The Bombers have dropped only one game all year, to Castlewood Utah, in the Las Vegas Spring Swing tournament, which they avenged with two wins in the championship of that tournament, and have two tourney titles to their credit already, in Norwalk, and Las Vegas, and look loaded for bear as they head to Red Rock in two weeks.
Team Rainey bounced back after Saturday’s loss to the Bombers, with wins over the River City Rockers and NorCal Mavericks Sunday, to finish 4-1 on the weekend. Team Rainey’s new ace, Bricklen Anderson tossed a 3 hit, 3-0 shutout over the Mavericks, with Ed Gaspar throwing well for the Mavs, yielding only two earned runs, and nothing after the third inning. The Mavs threatened in the 5th with runners at second and third before Anderson struck out the side.
Both the Bombers and Rainey will travel to St. George Utah in two weeks (April 30-May 1) for the Red Rock tournament. So Cal pitcher Mark Bennett, who pitched for his dad’s 23 and under team in Santa Fe Springs will join Portland CR/Adidas for Red Rock.
The River City Rockers and Raymar also competed in the weekend event at Little Lake Park,with Raymar picking up a win against the Young Bucks, while River City topped Raymar in their final game of the weekend Sunday morning. The Rockers have been a contender for the ASA “B” National crown the past several years, while Raymar finished 3rd amongst 70 teams at last year’s ASA “C” National, and were bumped up to the “B” division under ASA rules, and competing at the A/B level for the first time.
Watch the Morning Brief for a link to Maddy’s “Monday Night Photos” taken at Santa Fe Springs, and be sure to check the SoCal ASA website for more.