2026 60+ National
Royals Tribute 9, Inland Angels 8
Submitted by Art Scears, manager
The Royals Tribute is a combination of players that have come together from the Sacramento Royals and the Tri Valley Tribute. Our 3 and 1 record was good enough to make it into the semifinals as the #4 seed. The hitting star in the round robin and the quarter-final game that got us into the Semifinals was Dave Bullard, who was the winning pitcher for that quarter-final game. Of course, there were major contributions from everyone on the team.
At La Quinta High Varsity Field, a beautiful facility, we took down the #1 seeded Mustangs, 12 to 10, in the semi-final game, and then we won a thriller in the Championship game, 9-8, versus the Inland Angels.
Fernando ‘Nando’ Naranjo was our winning pitcher. He pitched the entire game against the Mustangs while the Mustangs threw seven different pitchers. Nando also got the save in the Championship game, getting the final three outs. He pitched 17 innings in three days.
Left fielder Gregg Yardley and center fielder Darryll Foster set the table in the Semis by being on base almost every at-bat as the 1, 2 hitters. Bullard, Ross McGehee, Dave Absher, Steve Roberts, and Steve Welch combined for 9 RBIs.
As for the Championship game, we trailed most of the game. We went down 4 to 0, then we scored four runs in the third inning. The Angels went up 7 to 4 through six innings. We made it 7 to 6 in the seventh, and then we took the lead 9 to 7 in the eighth.
They mounted a threat in the bottom of the ninth based on the bad sun, which created errors. The Score was 9 to 8 with runners at first and third and one out. Fernando induced a ground ball to our second baseman, Aurelio ‘Pepe’ Hurtado, who literally couldn’t see the ball through the brutal sun, but somehow, he knocked it down, recovered with a perfect toss to our shortstop Eric ‘ET’ Taylor, who threw an absolute BB to Dave Bullard at first base with the final out. If that play hadn’t been made, the game would have tied. It was a thrilling way to seal the victory.
Yardley and Foster again set the table in the Championship game. Steve Roberts cleared the bases with a double in the third inning, hitting a shot to right field, scoring all three on base. Nando knocked in two in the seventh inning, bringing the score to 7 them, 6 us.
In the eighth, we loaded the bases with one out, and their pitcher balked me in to score the tying run. Then, Pepe came up with the biggest hit of the tournament by taking the count full with two outs and fighting off a nasty pitch with a hit into right, scoring both runners on base.
Erik Taylor pitched brilliantly by starting that game, and he got us through the first five innings. Then, Mike ‘Pank’ Pankow pitched the next three plus, giving up only one unearned run. He said that he was pitching on fumes only.
Finally, Nando came in and shut the door in the ninth, albeit with the massive drama created by the sun as described above.
The weather could not have been better the entire tournament. Also, the umpires were first-rate. I do not recall a tournament where everything went as smoothly as this one did.