2005 TOYS FOR TOTS TOURNAMENT
Sunday, December 5th, 2005 @ 6:30pm / Arcadia High School
Valley Angels @ Belted USA

Angels say Amen for Ahern as he belts out the Belted
By Scot Sweet / PCBL Staff Writer

Someone back in the early days of baseball once said, "There's nothing like a hot bat on a cold night!" This was never so apparant as it was in this years PCBL Toys for Tots Championship game between the Valley Angels and Belted USA on a chilly Sunday evening at Arcadia High.
 
The Angel's Jeff Ahern, a Pacif Coast Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, in the truest sense of the word, put on a clinic in his first 3 at-bats with back to back 2-run doubles, capped off with a solo homer for a total of 5  big RBI's to lead the Valley Angels to a 10-6 victory over Belted USA.

Also aiding in the Angel offensive assault was Chris Tahan who hit a run-scoring double in the 1st inning, immediately followed by Claude Dodson who belted a 2-run homer to give the Angels the early 4-0 lead. Jeff Helmich also contributed with a 2 run single in the 4th inning.

The Belted USA team were not completely shut down on offense, however. They scored 2 runs in the 2nd inning with the help of a fielding error followed by an RBI single by Anthony Griffiths to get on the board in this contest. They added another run with a solo blast courtesy of the young and talented Jimmy Rohan, the product of the AAA Dodger's organization who showed that strong pitching wasn't his only forte'. Belted added 2 more runs in the 4th with the help of a solo homer by catcher Anthony Pasquia; followed shortly thereafter by a pair of singles by Luis Gomez and Anthony  Griffiths. Nonetheless, they would only manage to score 1 more run in the game - an unearned run in the 8th inning; to come up 4 runs short of catching the fleeting Valley Angels.

The noteworthy pitching report of the evening would have to go to Jimmy Rohan. Though it was in a losing effort, it has to be noted that Rohan came into the game with nobody out in the top half of the 4th inning and his team already trailing 9-3. From that point of the game, his numbers were quite impressive to stall the Angel offense. He allowed only 1 run, which was the solo homer by Angel MVP Jeff Ahern. He allowed only 2 hits through 6 complete innings of work, walked 1 and struck out 5.

The pitching of the Valley Angels that evening was a similar story of strong relief. Starting pitcher Sean Gates exited after a quick 3 innings of work; giving up 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits and striking out 3. Not a bad outing, but it's the relief pitching of Felipe Ruiz that shut down this Belted squad for good. Ruiz pitched 6 complete innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on only 2 hits and striking out 5.

And that turned out to be the difference as the Valley Angels were just a little too much for Belted USA, who tried to rally early but came up short.

Congratulations to the Valley Angels, the 2005 Toy's for Tot's Champions!

Game Time: 6:30pm - 9:20pm ( 2' 50" )
 
Game MVP: Jeff Ahern (3 for 5, 2 doubles, 1 homerun, 5 RBI's)
 
Umpires: Alfonso Garcia (Plate), Fidel Acosta (Bases)