Manhattan Beach Junior League All-Stars finish third in World Series

By Hannah Proctor
Sports Editor

Not many 14 and 15-year-olds can claim to be on the third-best baseball team in the United States and fifth best in the world. This summer, the Manhattan Beach Junior League All-Stars gained that recognition by getting to the Junior League World Series in Taylor, Michigan.

Manhattan Beach was coached by Ira Smith, Jeff Proctor, Keith Ramsey and Ian Bothwell and consisted of Mira Costa sophomores Jackson Michalski and Robert White, freshmen Reese Alexiades, Zach Chan, Brett Davis, Trevor Franklin, Blake Hammerstein, Ryan May and Rollie Nichols, as well as others from other schools.

“Just to play there and to get to play with my friends made me proud,” Alexiades said. “I’m proud that we made it that far.”

Manhattan Beach made it through six rounds of tournaments before getting to the World Series. Eventually, these tournaments took them to Vancouver, Washington where they played against and beat the team from Hawaii, a state that has won the Junior League World Series three times, and got to represent the entire Western United States.

“Beating Hawaii was really difficult,” Hammerstein said. “They’re really a powerhouse in the West.”

The 2012 teams that made it to the World Series were from California, Florida, Texas, Ohio, New York, Taiwan, Aruba, Mexico, Canada and Italy. Each country was well-represented by fans and family.

“The atmosphere was great,” Nichols said. “Getting to represent the West and meeting people from other parts of the country and the world was great.”

Overall, the boys are proud of their accomplishments. They ended with a record of 2-3 in the World Series and earned third place in the US and fifth overall.

“Being third in the country and fifth in the world, not many people get to say that,” Nichols said. “Just getting there was a huge accomplishment for us.”

The team’s success was honored by the Manhattan Beach City Council during the September 18 meeting .

“It was great to be recognized by the city for something we did and to know that we mean something,” Franklin said. “Being put in the records for what we did as a team is really cool.”