Cal State Fullerton-bound standout, Vega lead way to 9-7 All-Star victory at Mt. SAC

By Nathan Cambridge, Correspondent
WALNUT – The arm of Alhambra High School’s Noe Ramirez and the bat of Monrovia’s Vince Vega led the Red team to a 9-7 victory over the Blue in the 14th annual San Gabriel Valley All-Star baseball game on Sunday at Mt. San Antonio College.
Ramirez won the Cory Lidle Award as the game’s most valuable pitcher. He started and pitched two scoreless innings, struck out the side in the second inning and gave up one hit.
“This is a big deal. That is some good baseball out there. All I had to do out there was hit my spots,” Ramirez said.
Vega singled and doubled in two plate appearances and earned the Most Valuable Hitter award. Vega hit a two-out fastball for a double to deep left-center in the sixth inning to drive in a run.
“It was a good opportunity,” Vega said. “(The award) just puts icing on the cake. That polishes it off, you know, to go out there and play my game and it was enough today.”
Blue team member Dan Roddy of South Hills took home the Most Valuable Defensive Player award.
“It’s a great group of kids this year and they played their hearts out,” said Monrovia’s Dave Moore, who coached the Red team. “It was a heck of a ballgame. (For) both sides pitching was good at times and the hitting was good most of the game.
“The kids really hacked, and it’s great to get together 54 players who are upper echelon caliber in the San Gabriel Valley.”
The Blue finished with 13 hits while the Red had 12 but never trailed.
The Red team took an early lead and had a five-run advantage by the sixth inning. The Blue team came back late with two runs in the seventh and three in the eighth.
Temple City left-hander Brian Dearth, however, came in to pitch a scoreless ninth inning and earned a save.