Little League Team Hits the Big Time

South Mission Viejo Little League Manager Jim Gattis made what he called the decision of a lifetime Friday night.

Should he start hard-throwing right-hander Ashton White in the Western Region championship game? Or should he send one of three other pitchers to the mound?

Gattis went with White and it paid dividends. The 12-year-old son of 1979 Heisman Trophy winner Charles White struck out 11 and pitched out of numerous jams to lead South Mission Viejo to a 2-1 victory over Sunnyvale National and a berth in the Little League World Series. A crowd of about 9,000 watched at Al Houghton Stadium.

South Mission Viejo advances to Williamsport, Pa., where it opens at 5 p.m. (PDT) Monday against Bradenton, Fla. Bradenton won the Southern Region title Thursday with a 3-2, 10-inning victory over College Station, Texas.

Earlier in the tournament, White had overexerted himself when he struck out 16 in a 4-1 victory against Arizona. Gattis hoped White could get his fastball by Sunnyvale batters.

“I felt we had to hold these guys to no runs, or one run to beat them,” Gattis said. “Ashton was the guy who could do it.”

Gattis made three trips to the mound, including a stop in the first inning when Sunnyvale loaded the bases with one out. White, who threw 109 pitches in the six-inning game, responded by striking out the final two batters in the inning.

White helped himself at the plate, too, going three for four.

Sunnyvale starter Robert Perry was nearly as sharp. He struck out seven and managed a couple of hits, including a single in the sixth that drove in Nick Kossob, who had doubled with one out. That cut the South Mission Viejo lead to one run and sent Gattis to the mound one final time.

“Most of the time I go out I want to talk to the pitchers about mechanics,” said Gattis, a former minor league and college coach. “But this time I wanted to look into Ashton’s eyes and see if he wanted to finish.”

White struck out Troy Tulowitzki and then first baseman Nick Moore made a nice play to snag a bouncing ball off the bat of Bo Caravalho for the final out.

“I thought that ball might go through,” said South Mission Viejo second baseman Gary Gattis, the coach’s son. “It was the best feeling when I saw Nick turn back to the base for the out.”

South Mission Viejo scored first in the fourth inning. Andrew Nieves bounced a single over third. Gattis faked a bunt and drove a single to right-center, moving pinch runner Chad Lucas to second. Perry had trouble handling a bunt by Greg Oates and then Adam Elconin drove in Lucas with a bloop single.

White scored the eventual winning run an inning later, making South Mission Viejo the fourth Orange County team since 1987 to make it to Williamsport.