Santa Monica Pony All-Stars Win in Extra Innings

It remains to be seen whether the Santa Monica Mustangs from Amigos Park are a team of destiny. They've looked like one in the first two games of the Pony Baseball District 1 All-Star Tournament.

Behind clutch hitting and pitching from Nick Mililo and two athletic catches by center fielder Rodney Crayton, Santa Monica beat Pacific Palisades 3-2 in eight innings Thursday afternoon at the Palisades Recreation Center—a nice gift for third baseman Andy Ambriz on his 11th birthday.

"We all acknowledged him afterwards; it's a great way to celebrate," Santa Monica Manager Jimmy Van Cott said. "Everyone was happy to get him a win."

Santa Monica advanced to the semifinal round of the winner's bracket, where it will play Pico Rivera or Mira Costa at 10 a.m. Sunday back at the Pacific Palisades field.

"This is the second game we've won in the last inning, so I guess you could say we're getting used to it," Santa Monica Manager Jimmy Van Cott said. "I coached this team [9-10s] last year and we advanced to Sectionals, so hopefully we can do it again."

Santa Monica had fallen behind 4-0 with no outs in the first inning of its first game Tuesday against Cheviot Hills, but pitchers Mililo, Hunter Van Cott and Lucas Gordon combined to allow one hit the rest of the way. Los Amigos rallied to win 5-4 on a bases-loaded hit by Zane Metz.

On Thursday, Santa Monica starting pitcher Ea'sus Jimenez Y West went two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, and Gordon had three strikeouts over the next two innings.

Mustang Division games are normally six innings, but the score was 2-2 until the top of the eighth, when Gordon's fielder's choice grounder to shortstop scored Aydin Gillespie from third and gave Santa Monica the lead. 

With runners on second and third, Santa Monica threatened to tack on more runs, but Palisades reliever Nico Chapus struck out Metz to end the inning.

Working his fourth inning of relief, Mililo retired Palisades in order in the bottom of the eighth, getting Shane Skelly to foul out to Gordon at first base for the final out.

Santa Monica got on the board in the third inning when Mililo singled, stole second, took third on a balk and scored and scored on a sacrifice grounder by Matthew Gutierrez.

Palisades tied it 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Will Coquillard singled and pinch-runner Jack Sandifer stole second, took third on an error and scored on another error.

Santa Monica took the lead again in the top of the fifth when Crayton doubled to left field, stole third and scored on a sacrifice grounder by Mililo. Palisades tied it in the bottom half when Justin Howard singled, took second on a balk, stole third and scored on a grounder by Nico Chapus.

Palisades had a runner on third with two outs in the sixth inning when Crayton sprinted forward to snare a sinking line drive in shallow center field.

"That was one of the plays of the game right there," Van Cott said. "If he doesn't make that play, it's over."

Fittingly, it was the birthday boy who started Santa Monica's eighth-inning rally. Ambriz was awarded first base after being hit by a pitch and was replaced by pinch-runner Gillespie, who scored the winning run. Ambriz hit a ground-rule double earlier in the game. 

The top three teams in the District tournament advance to the Sectionals. Click here to view the Mustang District 1 bracket.