The Ceres Red All-Stars 8-and-under coach-pitch division baseball team finished in second place at the George Costa Invitational this past week in Ceres.

"I'm actually pretty happy with how my boys did," head coach Carlos Guizar said. "I loved the way they battled."

The Red All-Stars compiled a 3-2 record at their home tourney.

Ceres (9-4) placed first at Oakdale and second at Bel Passi.

"I'm excited to go to the next tournament," Guizar said.

Top-seeded Atwater Little League pulled away for a 7-2 win over third-seeded Ceres in the title game on Wednesday.

The Red All-Stars evened the score at 2-2 in the top of the third inning as Jairo Valenzuela knocked in Robert Gonzales with a single, and Ezekiel Suarez raced home on Carlos Guizar Jr.'s double.

Atwater Little League scored one run in both the third and fourth innings, and three in the fifth.

"We had chances," Carlos Guizar Sr. said. "We were hitting the ball. Atwater made some great plays on defense."

Ceres shut out Oakdale 10-0 in the semifinals.

Keaton Singleton had a grand slam in the top of the first inning.

"It was a big hit," coach Guizar said.

Kid-pitch division
The Ceres Blaze 8s placed second for the third time this season.

The Blaze compiled an 0-1 record at the Costa tournament.

Ceres lost 11-7 to Bel Passi in the finals on Wednesday.

"They have a really good team," Blaze head coach Jorge Guerrero said.

The Blaze trailed 8-1 at the end of the second inning.

Ceres cut the deficit to two runs in the fourth inning.

Garret Garcia collected two triples and four RBIs.

He hit two homers at the Bel Passi tournament.

"He's been smacking the ball," Guerrero said.

The Costa kid-pitch tournament featured just two teams-Ceres and Bel Passi.

"The other two teams that were supposed to be in the tournament dropped out," Guerrero said. "We just started playing a couple weeks ago."