In A Zone

The Fountain Valley Performance Zone baseball certainly was in a

zone during the Memorial Day weekend as it coasted to the Under-12

Division championship at the annual Memorial Baseball Tournament held at

Mile Square Park.

The Performance Zone, comprised of players from Fountain Valley and

Huntington Beach, toyed with most of the competition in the division,

which featured 18 teams made up of PONY, Little League, and Club baseball

teams from both Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Fountain Valley, which won all seven of its games en route to the title,

clubbed the Tustin Dodgers, 11-0, in Monday’s final. Jeff Roth cemented

the tournament’s MVP award by going 4 for 4 with two home runs and a

double, and also pitched a complete game victory that resulted in just

one hit and 12 strikeouts.

The win was the fourth Mercy Rule decision the Performance Zone earned

during the four day tournament.

Fountain Valley began the tournament with a 13-1 rout of the Tustin

Thunder as Jake Mahlstedt and Justin DeMarco each doubled and singled,

and Ryan Stehle singled twice during a 14-hit attack. Next came a 9-0

verdict over the Huntington Beach Cobras in which Jeff Hann and Jason

Croswell each homered and pitcher Brandon Lawson nailed the win with a

three-hit effort.

Croswell went on to blast a pair of home runs and a single during

Saturday’s 12-2 rout of the Upland Legends, a win that also featured the

two-hit performances of Chris MacKay, Brett Nagel, Roth, and Kyle Mastel.

On Sunday, the Performance Zone received their stiffest challenge of the

tournament, as the Rivera Rocks of Torrance put up a fight before

succumbing, 2-1. Hann and Roth, who shared pitching duties, kept Fountain

Valley in command by striking out 15 while allowing just one hit. Later

that afternoon, Roth homered and the pitching foursome of Hann, Stehle,

Nagel, and Dean Otsuka combined on a four hitter as the Performance Zone

returned to their winning ways in a 17-3 romp past the Anaheim Dodgers.

The five victories set up a semifinal date with the Fountain Valley

Titans. The Zone prevailed, however, as Hann allowed just two hits, Roth,

Mastel, and Brandon Gladu all homered, and Hann, Croswell, Stehle, and

Brandon Cooke each doubled.

In seven games, Fountain Valley’s domination included 86 hits (including

eight home runs and 18 doubles) for a .404 team batting average, and 17

hits and a team batting average of .113 for the opposition.