Youth baseball: Bullard, Clovis stars win state Ripken tourneys
A pair of Cal Ripken All-Star teams — Bullard’s 12U and Clovis’ 9U — have qualified for regionals set to start July 19.
Bullard earned its berth into the Pacific Southwest Regionals in Panguitch, Utah, by winning the Central California State Tournament.
Bullard beat Northwest Bakersfield 10-0 to complete a 4-0 run that included wins over Fowler (15-0), Tulare (3-2) and Northwest Bakersfield (11-1). Bullard is 16-0 this summer with victories at the Edison, Bullard, EC and State tournaments.
The team: Isaac Ayon, Michal Collins, Tyler Davis, Cameron DeMaria, Manny Galo, Justin Mankin, Matthew Montoya, Isaiah Munoz, Julian Rocha, Diego Ruiz, Bryce Weiner and Cirrus Zamora, with coaches Anthony DeMaria, Ralph Munoz and Frank Ruiz.
Clovis defeated Bakersfield 4-2 while going 4-0 through the 9U state tournament.
It also beat Lodi 12-0, Kerman 11-1 and Bakersfield 13-3 and will play in a regional in Kingsburg,
The team, managed by Doug Cheney and assisted by Shawn McAvoy: Caleb Calhoun, Jaden Carrillo, Tyler Cheney, Dominic DeCanio, Edwin Estrada, Eli Henderson, Marcel Leal, Brody McAvoy, Ty Miller, Matthew Preuss and Joey Ziese.
Local youth to play in national tourney
Rossi Martinez, an eighth-grader at Granite Ridge Intermediate school, was chosen to play in the United States Specialty Sports Association All-American Games.
Martinez, 12, who pitches and also plays first base and outfield, was one of 15 players selected from the Northwest Region that covers Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Showcases are conducted in eight regions in all; one team of All Americans per age group (9-14) is then chosen from each region.
The teams will compete at the USSSA Games from Aug. 2-7 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida. The games are used in the selection of the USSSA All-America teams and USSSA nationals teams that will compete in International competition.
This story was originally published July 9, 2015 at 7:54 PM with the headline "Youth baseball: Bullard, Clovis stars win state Ripken tourneys."