The Ceres Youth Baseball Organization had two teams compete in the 12-and-under bracket at the 48th Annual George Costa Tournament.

The Ceres All-Stars finished in second place, while the Ceres Blaze 10s advanced to the semifinals. 

The All-Stars suffered a 7-4 loss while battling the TPR Reds in the finals on July 3.

“We lost to a better team,” head coach Matthew Souza said. “We can’t be upset about that.”

The All-Stars posted a 4-1 record at the Costa Tournament. 

The All-Stars routed the Livingston Lobos 16-1 in the semifinals

The All-Stars collected wins against the Lobos, Oakdale All-Stars and Oakdale Oakies in seeding play. “We placed first at the Bel Passi Tournament the previous weekend,” Souza said. “It would have been nice to win at home but we didn’t. We just ran into a better team.

The All-Stars have been a model of consistency this season.

The All-Stars have placed first twice, and second and third once. 

“We have a good group of boys,” he said. “They go out there and have fun.”

“I also have good coaches helping me,” Souza added.

The Blaze 10s defaulted out of the tourney after winning their first three games.

“We would have had a good shot at winning the whole thing if we didn’t pull out of the tournament to play in the Pony Trail,” head coach Gerardo Hernandez said. “It’s the equivalent to the Little League World Series.”

The Blaze coasted to a 12-2 win against the Lobos in bracket play on July 30.

The Blaze earned victories over Livingston (11-2) and Hilmar (16-2) in seeding play.

“It was a good test playing up a division,” Hernandez said. We played against 11 and 12 year olds. Our pitching and defense were great. We got timely hitting. We did what we were supposed to do. We played solid baseball.”