| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay 
PV Little League Results & Highlights - Regular Season Week Eight
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
April 25, 2010
| | La Cruz starting pitcher Ismael Santos pitched well and gave his team a 12-4 lead over Banderas News after three innings. | |
The City of Puerto Vallarta and the Puerto Vallarta Little League will be hosts for the first time for the divisional playoffs for the State of Jalisco the weekend of May 28th - May 30th. (See: Help the PV Little League Host the Jalisco District Tournament)
The playoffs got underway for the 12-14 year old division in Week 8 of the Puerto Vallarta Little League as the 9-11 year olds continued the remainder of their regular season as three teams are battling for the #1 seed and easiest road to the championship.
The first playoff game was played between undefeated and #1 seed Teatro Limon and #4 seed Las Rocas in Coach Frank "Pancho" Torres final game as head coach, as he will be leaving to go back to California for the summer. He will fly in for the State of Jalisco Little League playoffs that will be held In Puerto Vallarta May 28th - May 30th.
Las Rocas hoped to send Frank off with an upset victory over unbeaten Teatro Limon and they played their hearts out and were right in the game trailing just 9-6 after three innings when they had to make a mandatory pitching change. Their relief staff has been one of their weaknesses as well as many teams and after tying the score at 9-9 in the top of the 4th they allowed 5 runs to score and still were in the game, behind 14-9 with two innings remaining. Scoring just once in the top of the 5th, all the wheels came off and the bottom of the 5th was a disaster as Teatro Limon scored 13 runs on 10 hits and three home runs. The game was called after the 5th due to the "mercy rule" and Teatro Limon won 27-10 and took a 1-0 lead in the first round of the playoffs.
| | Banderas News smallest player, Francisco Gastelo blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the 4th to turn a 12-10 deficit into a 14-12 lead in 4th inning. | |
The two will meet this Saturday again at 11:00 AM as Teatro Limon will be looking to advance to the championship round with a victory. Las Rocas, who are short on experience and talent but have improved each week, will look to tie the series and force a deciding third game.
In the second playoff game at 1:30 PM, a much anticipated matchup was held between #2 seed Banderas News and #3 seed La Cruz Tibuneros. The last time the two faced each other was in the regular season and after a 4-4 tie after four innings, Banderas News scored six runs off the La Cruz relief staff for a 10-4 victory.
La Cruz started Ismael Santos, their regular starter and he pitched two shutout innings as his teammates supported him with 7 runs in the first two innings. Santos allowed 4 runs in the 3rd but La Cruz responded with 5 in the bottom of the 3rd and led 12-4 in front of a shocked crowd. The relief pitching staff of the Tibuneros needed a solid performance in what was their weakness the whole season. The team from Nayarit was either leading or very close in every game this season but were lacking a solid relief pitching staff.
La Cruz went through three pitchers in the top of the 4th inning as Banderas News sent 13 batters to the plate and scored 10 runs. The pitching staff allowed seven walks and all scored and the relievers didn't allow their team to field the ball. The big blast however, came from the smallest man on the Banderas News team. Starting pitcher and 3rd baseman Francisco Gastelo came to bat with the bases loaded, two outs and trailing 12-10 and blasted a grand slam over everyone's head to score the final four runs of the inning and gave his squad a 14-12 lead. With ace Francisco Ramon coming in to pitch the Banderas News team felt confident after feeling hopeless just ˝ an inning earlier. La Cruz got to Ramon for three runs and took back the lead 15-14 after four innings.
| | Teatro Limon's Josue Lopez came in from shortstop and pitched well in relief to lead his team to an opening playoff win over Las Rocas. | |
In the top of the 5th the first four Banderas News batters reached base on a walk, two triples and a double and all scored before the inning ended and Banderas News retook the lead 18-15. After allowing a leadoff triple in the bottom of the 5th Ramon struck out the next three batters and after 5 innings it was 18-15. La Cruz held their opponents scoreless in the top of the 6th and had just three outs to get in 3 or more runs. They got a man on but the game ended with a strikeout as Banderas News came from far behind and then held on for a tense 18-15 victory. The two will face each other again Saturday at 1:30 PM in Game two of the playoffs.
In the 9-11 division the battle for first place was still on the line between three teams. The first place PV Yankees with a ˝ game lead played Ixaya Café at noon and their game was sparkling offensively, defensively and pitching as they defeated Ixaya 18-3 in 5 innings before the game was ended by the "mercy rule".
The other 9-11 year old game was played on the other corner of the field between the Mexlend Martillos and Pipis Restaurant. The two teams always put runs on the scoreboard and Saturday was no exception. After two innings the game was tied 10-10 and for Mexlend, it was a must victory to stay in the race for first place. The Martillos kept scoring often and late and their pitching staff held up strong as they won 27-15 and remained ˝ game behind the Yankees.
Los Picosos had the week off and are just one game behind the Yankees, who have just one game remaining. Mexlend and Los Picosos both have two games to play before the playoffs. The race for 4th place and the final team to make the playoffs has Pipis one game ahead of Ixaya Café.
| For donations, sponsorships and further information we urge you to contact Bob Cohen at bob(at)banderasnews.com
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T Ball was also played again Thursday between VIP and Homes and Living. The youngsters, ranging from 5-8 years old however saw another big change this week. The kids already outgrew the T's and the coaches pitched to the players. In the first four weeks of play the game always was a tie and both VIP and Homes &Living were tied for first place. Last week the 5-8 year olds wanted to play for real and demanded that the score be kept and a rivalry began. Homes and Living defeated VIP in an exciting game 20-14. The kids love the competition more each week and who knows, next week they might demand their own pitchers.
The 9-11 year old division is far from settled and they will play out their full eight game regular season schedule. A make up game that was cancelled will be played between Mexlend and Pipis one day after school mid-week, this or next.
The regular season is made up of eight games before the playoffs begin. The playoff system is as follows. The winner of each age group plays the fourth place team in their division and the second place team plays the third place team in a best two out of three game series. The two winners of that series will play for the championship in a best three out of five series to crown a champion in each age category.
The standings thus far are as follows:
• 12-14 Year olds:
#1 seed Teatro Limon: 7-0, 1-0 in 1st round of playoffs
#2 seed BanderasNews.com: 4-2, 1-0 in 1st round of playoffs
#3 seed La Cruz: 2-4, 0-1 in 1st round of playoffs
#4 seed Las Rocas: 1-6, 0-1 in 1st round of playoffs
• 9-11 Year olds:
PV Yankees - 6-1
Mexlend Martillos - 5-1
Los Picosos - 4-2
Pipis Restaurant - 1-5
Ixaya Cafe - 0-6
Next Saturday's schedule:
12-14 Year olds playoffs:
11:00 AM - Teatro Limon (1-0) vs. Las Rocas (0-1)
1:30 PM - Banderas News (1-0) vs. La Cruz (0-1)
9-11 Year olds:
To be determined
Your support provides endless benefits for Banderas Bay area kids, who will develop the qualities of citizenship, discipline, teamwork and physical well-being by participating in Puerto Vallarta Little League Baseball. To learn how you can help, send an email to Bob Cohen at bob(at)banderasnews.com. For more information about Puerto Vallarta Little League Baseball, click HERE.
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