Charter Oak Broncos, Mustangs, Moving On

After seeing one of its own knocked out of the PONY Regionals, the Mustang and Bronco Charter Oak All-Stars avenged their league counterparts with dominating victories over Walnut in Day 3 action at Creekside Park.

The Charter Oak Silver All-Stars opened Saturday morning, dropping a 17-4 contest to Whittier Royal in the Mustang (ages 9-10) bracket and being eliminated from the tournament.

That loss was followed by two dominating victories for Charter Oak.

The Mustang All-Stars crushed Walnut by a 19-7 score and the Broncos used nine first-inning runs to roll to a 18-2 mercy-rule victory over Walnut.

"To get those nine runs in the first inning and then hold them to no runs in the first inning, that's a big relief," Bronco coach Frank Gallegos said.

"Then we just continued to hit."

Frankie Gallegos provided the big hit for the Broncos, hitting a grand slam that cleared two fences.

Jaron Surdo also added an RBI double in the inning.

Pitchers Zo Llorens and Mason Rowe combined to limit the Walnut offense to two late runs.

Up next for the Broncos is a 5:30 p.m. contest Sunday against West Covina Red.

The winner will advance to Tuesday's championship game and earn a trip to the Super Regionals in Whittier.

The Mustangs also have their eyes set on the Super Regionals and got one step closer Saturday.

Left-hander Dylan O'Leary tossed three scoreless innings, struck out seven and the offense took care of the rest.

"Dylan was really locating his fastball and off-speed pitches well," said coach Tim O'Leary.

"We hit the ball well and our team speed has been a big advantage."

Holding a 10-0 lead, Charter Oak saw that lead cut in half when Walnut scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

The Charter Oak offense responded with nine more runs over the next two innings

."Walnut is a good team and they came back on us," coach O'Leary said.

 "But the boys finished the job."The Mustangs can reach Tuesday's title game with a Sunday victory over Whittier Navy (6-1 winners over West Covina Red).

 "It's been a close, great game every time," the coach said of Whittier.

 "The kids just need to stay focused on the task at hand." Game time is set for 5:30 p.m.