LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Team Effort Leads to Success West Diablo Valley All-Stars Play in Western Regionals


Photo Michele Armosino

The West Diablo Valley (WDV) Broncos, a team of all-stars from Moraga and Orinda, reached the Western Regional Tournament in San Jose last week. WDV had qualified for the Regional tournament earlier in July by winning the Sectional Tournament in Vacaville, where the team, growing in confidence, dispatched four opponents in a row by a combined score of 56 to 6. The local all-stars were only two wins away from qualifying for the Bronco World Series in Monterey.

The team, managed by Milt Panagotacos, took the first two games in the tournament with spectacular defense, timely hitting, aggressive base running, and solid pitching. Losses to powerhouse squads from Modesto and Morgan Hill ended the team's hot streak.

The first win of the Western Regionals, a 5-1 victory against one of the favorites in the tournament, Blossom Valley, demonstrated the boy's potential for success. The win came from a combined team effort. Pitchers James Vaccaro and closer Jake Rider shut down Blossom Valley's potential for offense while in-the-field defense came from Neil Kelley, Ben Skinner, Scotty Smoot, Brandon Armosino, Megan Reid and Tommy Larsen, Scotty Chen and Neal Weikert. Offense was led by Chen with three hits.

In the second win of the tournament, a 4-2 victory against Sierra Valley of Sacramento.

Kelley led the pitching efforts for five innings. Vaccaro pitched lights out in the last two innings for the save. Armosino and Reid Gibbs led the offensive attack with two hits each.

The match-up against Morgan Hill, the eventual tournament winner, proved to be a tougher challenge for WDV. Morgan Hill took a three-run lead early in the game. The Broncos answered back with a run led by Vaccaro's two-run homer over the left-center wall. Kelley rode the offensive momentum to third base by stealing second and third. Smoot drove Kelley home by taking a base-on-balls and running to second to draw the throw, allowing Kelley to score. The Bronco's offense ended there however and Morgan Hill took control of the game and the victory, 6-3.

The Broncos were eliminated from the tournament with a loss to Bel Passi of Modesto.

Panagotacos said, "As we saw, to win the tournament at this level is extremely difficult, but I wouldn't have put anything past this group. It's one of the finest teams I've coached."