| | |  News from Around Banderas Bay 
PV Little League Results & Highlights - Pre-Season Week One
 Bob Cohen - PVNN
January 18, 2010
| | The victorious PV Yankees after their game with team sponsors Dave and Dawn Marriner. | |
| | BanderasNews.com batting in the first inning against Las Rocas. | 
| | The Mexlend Martillos in their first game as a team pitching to Los Picosos midway through the game. | 
| | Las Rocas coaching staff, from left to right, Lorena Ruiz, Frank "Pancho" Torres and jerry Bianchi. | 
| | On the left Blanca Cisneros, the league secretary with husband Osiris Garcia, coach and trainer of coaches and legaue kids. | |
The opening week of the Puerto Vallarta Little League season was held Saturday, a week after the opening ceremonies and practice games that followed. There was a large crowd of parents on hand to see their kids play. The season schedule was also set for the opening six games. Due to religious trainings, the first game will be played in the 12-14 year old division on the main field at 11:00 AM and then the 9-11 year olds will begin play on the corner fields at 12:30 PM and the other 12-14 year old game will follow after the finish of the opener on the main field.
With five returning teams from last year and three new teams, as well as some kids moving up one age group, the opening games gave the teams a measuring stick as to what their teams will need to improve.
Everyone was treated to a thriller at 11:00 AM in a game between Sage Hill Lightning, last year's younger division champions and Teatro Limon, who finished second. Both teams moved up to the 12-14 year old division and on opening day they were able to renew their rivalry even though some of the faces changed. Teatro Limon opened up a 5-0 lead after the first inning of play with some walks and timely hits. Sage Hill scored a run in the top of the 2nd and held Teatro Limon with some stronger pitching. Sage Hill then began to hit the ball hard and scored five times in the top of the 3rd and allowed a run as the thriller was tied 6-6 after three innings.
The parents and fans were cheering loudly and they knew they were in for a special finish. Both teams scored twice in the 4th inning, bringing the score to 8-8 and each team scored once in the 5th and now the game was tied 9-9 with just an inning to play. Sage Hill scored a run in the top of the 6th and Teatro Limon came to bat with just three outs to come up with a run to extend the game into extra innings or two runs to win the contest.
The first three batters reached base and then the Sage Hill coach came out and switched the catcher and pitcher. The new pitcher threw as hard as any 14 year old I have seen and struck out the first two batters as the fans were biting their nails as they screamed. A passed ball allowed the tying run to score and then with two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, the batter tapped a little roller down the third baseline that nobody could get to and the winning run crossed the plate for Teatro Limon for a thrilling 11-10 victory.
Hoping that this was an indication of games to follow, all three fields were full of kids playing their opening games. On the main field was BanderasNews.com facing Las Rocas, a new team sponsored by old faces; Jerry Bianchi and Frank "Pancho" Torres. Las Rocas was named as a combination of the Colorado Yankees and the Rock Hounds from the San Francisco area. The team was made up mostly of kids from the American School in the Marina most of who had never played baseball. Las Rocas scored a run first but BanderasNews, who was the co-champion in the older division last year, scored eight times in their half of the inning.
It was apparent that Las Rocas needed more practice and to learn the fundamentals by their coaches. The game went five innings before they stopped with BanderasNews winning 23-6. The game would have officially been stopped via the "mercy rule" after the top of the 4th inning. The rule states that after the trailing team plays the 4th inning and still trails by 10 or more runs, the game is officially over to avoid embarrassment or hurt feelings. Las Rocas decided to play one more inning for the practice and experience and then end the game. Look for more from Las Rocas in future games as the opening game allows the coached to see what they have to work with.
| For donations, sponsorships and further information we urge you to contact Bob Cohen at bob(at)banderasnews.com
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The younger kids played in the corners of the stadium, down the left and right field lines. In right field, the PV Yankees, a solid team that played last year faced newcomers to the league, Pipis Restaurant. The Yankees returned almost all their players from last year and their sponsors, Dave and Dawn Marriner were in attendance, cheering their team on. The Yankees were solid at the plate, on the mound and in the field and it was obvious very quickly that Pipis needed more work as well as this was their first organized game and some of the kids hadn't played baseball before. We won't report the exact final score, although the game was played the full six innings. The played the full game for the same reason as Las Rocas, to get some game experience. The Yankees officially won via the mercy rule. We will call the score 12-1.
In the left field corner, Los Picosos who played last season and had a losing record faced a new team, the Mexlend Martillos coached by Osiris Garcia, who has been training about 80 kids each day the past two weeks. The Martillos had a young squad in both age and playing experience and Los Picosos experience and size allowed them to hit the ball hard and often but the youngsters still found bright spots in their game despite losing via the mercy rule. Both teams agreed to play the full six innings but in the record book the final score will be Los Picosos 19-8 over Mexlend. We look for Mexlend to improve with the coaching of Garcia.
After reflection of the sunny and successful first day of the season, the kids, parents, coaches and league officials look forward to a good season and improvement by the losing teams and a well balanced league. Season Two had a big opening day and we invite everyone out to the baseball field next Saturday, January 23rd.
The schedule is:
11:00 AM (main field) - Teatro Limon vs. Las Rocas
12:30 PM (main field) - Sage Hill vs. BanderasNews.com
12:30 PM (corner field) - Pipis Restaurant vs. Los Picosos
12:30 PM (corner field) - Mexlend Martillos vs. PV Yankees
Click HERE for more Puerto Vallarta Little League information
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