Dream Team

He has been labeled a man among boys, a Goliath among Davids.

His size and stature have him towering over teammates and

opponents, yet what sometimes comes with a 6-foot, 156-pound frame in

a 12-year-old, A.J. Roth is not uncoordinated in the slightest.

The Costa Mesa National Little League All-Stars Majors ace on the

mound and slugger at the plate, Roth highlights a group of 14

Newport-Mesa area youth baseball players comprising the Daily Pilot’s

Dream Team.

All players from the four local Little League squads are strictly

from the Majors division while the three from the Newport Harbor

Baseball Association are from the Bronco division -- the same age

classification.

Other selections include Victor Trujillo and Michael Markovski of

the Costa Mesa National All-Stars; Austin Rios, Hayden Cornwell and

Angelo Angelides of the Newport Harbor Baseball Association Bronco

All-Stars; Blake Thomsen and Grant Davis of the Newport Beach Little

League National All-Stars; Brian Ford, Chris Freeman and Mitch

Gardner of the Newport Beach Little League American All-Stars; and

P.J. Maloney, Garrett Hirsch and Derek Amendola of the Costa Mesa

American Little League All-Stars.

It was Roth, however, that stared down opponents from the mound,

with his single-game strikeout count in double digits on numerous

occasions. And his batting often struck fear, so that he was

intentionally walked many times toward the end of the season.

“There’s so many kids that are bigger than everyone and that grow

faster,” Costa Mesa National Manager Kirk Stone said. “But it always

seemed those kids were uncoordinated. Not [Roth], though. He’s not

only big, strong and fast, he’s mentally strong.”

Roth and his Dream Team teammates possess a deep arsenal that is

loaded with talent.

The trifecta of players from the NHBA Bronco All-Stars led the

team to the quarterfinals of the West zone-South section tournament

for the 11- and 12-year-old age group.

In a 13-9 loss to Dana Point that relegated the team to the

second-chance bracket, Rios went 4 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs

scored. Cornwell was 3 for 4 with a triple, double, two RBIs and two

runs scored and Angelides was 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

“Probably our most dominant player was Hayden Cornwell,” NHBA

Bronco All-Stars Manager Aaron Rios said. “He could pitch well and he

was our best catcher behind the plate. He had a good arm -- he threw

out many players [trying to steal second].”

All three players’ performances mirror what they accomplished

throughout the All-Star tournaments and throughout the regular season

-- as with the rest of the selections.

Newport Beach Little League National All-Stars teammates Thomsen

and Davis led the squad during the District 55 double-elimination

tournament. Thomsen helped his regular-season Padres team win the

District 55 Tournament of Champions before the All-Star tournament.

Both Thomsen and Davis batted over .500 during the All-Star team’s

two-game run.

“[Thomsen] just lives and breathes baseball,” Newport Beach Little

League National All-Stars Manager Scott Jones said. “He’s a really

hard worker. He’s the most fundamentally sound kid out there. He’s

not the biggest kid out there but the most fundamentally perfect.”

Gardner was an offensive machine for the Newport Beach Little

League American All-Star team in the District 55 tournament. He

slugged three home runs in his first three at-bats in a 10-0 win over

the South Irvine National All-Stars.

Ford hit .662 through 25 postseason games, including the

Tournament of Champions and the All-Star tournament. He helped lead

the Yankees to the regular-season championship.

Freeman hit .550 during the regular season and led the league with

three home runs. During the All-Star tournament, he went 9 for 15 for

the highest average on the team.

In the battle for Costa Mesa, the American Little League’s squad

came out on top during two separate occasions. The team knocked out

the National squad in both the District 62 Tournament of Champions

and the District 62 All-Star tournament.

Leading the charge for the Costa Mesa American squad was P.J.

Maloney, who went undefeated from the mound all season. Maloney, a

four-time all-star, went 4-0 in the Tournament of Champions and 2-2

in the All-Star tournament.

Teammates Amendola and Hirsch also contributed their respective

skills. Hirsch, the No. 2 batter in the lineup, caught for the

All-Star team and led the league in pickoffs during the regular

season. Amendola, a two-time All-Star, pitched two shutout games in

the Tournament of Champions.

Roth was aided by Costa Mesa National teammates Trujillo and

Markovski during the All-Star tournament.

Trujillo accounted for the team’s lone hit in their lone All-Star

victory while Markovski was the No. 2 pitcher behind Roth.

Markovski entered for relief in the third inning of an All-Star

game against Seaview and shut the opponents down, giving up two hits.

He also went 3 for 3 with two doubles and two runs scored.