SALINAS VALLEY — The Salinas Valley Titans 10 and under Pony baseball team represented South Monterey County as the NORCAL Super Region champions during last week’s 2024 West Zone Baseball Mustang Championships at Norwalk’s Holifield Park.
The Salinas Valley team went 1-2 in the double elimination tournament with a 10-8 loss in the first round last Thursday to NPAS 10 and under; defeated the Spokane Dirtbags by a 20-4 score last Friday; and lost 8-4 to Westlake in the elimination game on Saturday.
In their final game, Salinas Valley mounted a late comeback in the final innings.
“We gave up six runs in the first inning and settled down after that,” said Titans head coach Anthony Mena. “We had the base loaded in the last inning, but Westlake made some good plays to beat us.”
To qualify for the West Zone Championships, the Salinas Valley Titans team beat Rivals Baseball 10 and under in consecutive games to win the NORCAL Super Region Championships that took place in Ceres.
In the first game in Norwalk against NPAS, Zak Carrillo, Zander Sparks and Andre Chacon had multiple hits for Salinas Valley.
In the 20-4 victory over the Spokane Dirtbags, Salomon Zuniga-Vargas, Danny Zavala and Charlie Ballesta were provided the offense.
Against Westlake, Chacon came in and pitched well after Salinas Valley had fallen behind 6-0, and Santos Cabral and Derek Garcia came through with hits.
Also playing for the Titans were: Mason Mena, Alexander Carreon, Liam Cortez, Kaidyn Bowen and Andre Munoz.
The Salinas Valley team was managed by Mena and coached by J.B. Ballesta, Jerry Zavala and Andres Zuniga.
