The La Cañada 9-and-under Spartan All-Star baseball team advanced to the Southern California Pony Super Regional, which begins today, July 6, in the city of Walnut.
The team opened the Pony East Regional tournament in West Covina with wins over Sierra Madre and Norwalk to advance. The Spartans overcame early deficits in both games.
La Cañada’s offensive attack was led by Timothy Akasaki, who collected nine hits and six RBIs in 11 at-bats. Drew Parrille had five hits, Darren Doizaki and Toby Larsen had four hits apiece, while multiple clutch hits and RBIs were delivered by Grant Que, Gabriel Herrera, Jackson Garlick, Grant Fohrer, William Stoll, Nolan Fan and Colin Wesser.
On the pitching mound, Doizaki started both games and went a strong 5.2 innings combined. Akasaki closed the Sierra Madre game with five strikeouts and no earned runs. Deven Gaska and Jackson Garlick also contributed from the mound.
Meanwhile, Fan closed the Norwalk game’s final two innings to send the Spartans to the Super Regional. The team’s success comes on the heels of winning the La Cañada Summer Smash Tournament and finishing as the runner-up at the South Bay Father’s Day Tournament.
Up next for the Spartans is the Pony Southern California Super Regional, where the top 16 9U Pony teams from across Southern California will be competing in Walnut.
First published in the July 6 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
