The Ceres Blaze eight-and-under travel baseball team capped off its summer season in dominant fashion.
Ceres finished first overall while competing at the National Championship Sports (NCS) World Series, July 18-21, in Reno.
“It was a great way to end the season,” Blaze head coach Ralph Valencia said.
Ceres won six games by a combined score of 58-7.
“The kids played really well,” Valencia said. They had a lot of fun. We were in Reno. It was a little vacation for them.”
The Blaze edged Better Baseball Training 4-3 in the championship game on July 21.
“It was close the whole game,” Valencia said.
Brady Anderson was the winning pitcher.
He allowed three runs and four hits with four strikeouts in one walk in three innings.
He also collected the game-winning hit.
Tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Alex Galvan doubled, moved to second on Abel Valencia’s walk, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Anderson’s walk-off double.
“Brady was the right kid to come up in that situation,” Valencia said. “He hit a home run earlier in the game and two homers in the prior game. He was on fire.”
Ceres shut out Bass 8-0 in the semifinals on July 21.
The Blaze topped the Pleasant Hill Pineapples 8-0 on July 20.
Ceres defeated the Gladiators 9U 20-2 on July 19.
The Blaze bested the Brentwood Blast 9U 13-1 on July 19.
Ceres opened the tournament with a 5-1 victory over Better Baseball Training on July 18.
Coach Valencia had a feeling his team was going to have a strong showing at the NCS World Series.
“I felt good where we were at,” he said. “We played really, good competition the week prior.”
The Blaze placed third at the July 11-14 2024 Pony Baseball West Zone Pinto World Series in Rodeo.
Ceres also defended its title at the Pinto Northeast Region Championship Tournament.
A total of 15 players contributed during the course of the season, including Anderson, Galvan, Abel Valencia, Abel Acosta, Tanner Bispo, Braden Eastham, Dean Escarcega, Danny Jacobo, Dwight Jones, Jax Moring, Santiago Pena, Elijah Sanchez, Noah Tamarit, Connor Zuckerman and Nathaniel Zuckerman.
“You could see the continued development,” coach Valencia said.
