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Placentia all-stars celebrate after Saturday’s comeback victory. (Photos: OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).
Placentia’s 12-and-under Bronco all-stars powered past Santa Ana 10-8 Saturday afternoon in a slugest in the second round of the regional baseball tournament hosted by Irvine Pony at Hicks Canyon Park.
With its second straight victory in the tournament, Placentia clinched one of the three berths to the super regional next week and moves on to face South Bay Sunday at 11:30 a.m., according to Coach Brandon Smith.
The finals of the tournament are Monday at 5 p.m. and the Placentia team will be out to get the highest seed possible going into the super regionals.
There were six home runs in Saturday’s game, three by each team. Santa Ana,which came in 1-0, was trying to stay alive in an afternoon game against Irvine.
“It was a good game, Santa Ana has always given us tough looks, they’re a good team,” said Smith. “We knew we had our hands full but our guys stepped up to the plate and did what we needed to do to win a game.
“We play tomorrow, we’ve advanced to next week by being in the top three of the tournament. This was a must-win for us.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
A three-run home run by leadoff hitter Jayden Stilabower in the fourth inning and a solo home run by Tyler Fritz in the fifth inning helped lift Placentia to the comeback win.
“Jayden has been waiting for his pitch, he’s being picky at the plate and he hit that fastball for a three-run bomb,” Smith said.
Santa Ana gave Placentia a battle, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Evan Tellez singled and scored on home run by Adrian Cueva. Adrian Soto followed with a solo home run to put Santa Ana ahead 3-0.
Placentia countered with four runs in the second inning. Caden Smith had a two-run single and Ben Hansen followed with a two-run home to put Placentia ahead 4-3.
But in the bottom of the third inning, Santa Ana scored five runs, one on an RBI single by Soto and four coming on a grand slam by Andre Naro to give Santa Ana an 8-4 lead.
However, Placentia pitchers shut out Santa Ana the rest of the way and Placentia scored the final six runs of the game, three in the fourth on Stilabower’s home run and three more runs in the fifth inning. Besides the home run by Fritz, Cole Grothues drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Dean Clewett drove in a run on a sacrifice bunt.
Tristan Gerken, Grothues, Hansen and Caden Smith were used on the mound for Placentia.
“Caden Smith came in with eight outs and nine pitches, you don’t see that too often,” Smith, the manager said. “I’m pretty proud of my son. He came in and did what he did and he’s been one of our horses. We’re lucky to be deep in pitching. We’re blessed with a good lineup.”
Placentia players also shared their thoughts on the victory. Click here for their reaction:
Placentia started the tournament Thursday with a 16-0 victory over Cypress while Santa Ana defeated Olive 3-1 on Friday.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
