NHBA: Cubs, Dodgers capture titles

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Harbor Baseball Association Cubs saved

their best for last Sunday, defeating the White Sox, 6-0, in the

championship game of the Bronco Division (ages 11-12) at Mariners Park.

“We played our best game of the year,” Cubs Manager Kevin Heenan said.

Dennis Heenan pitched three hitless innings (seven strikeouts), Alec

Martinez struck out four in three innings and Zippy Levy pitched a

hitless inning to combine for one-hit the shutout.

Chris Packwood got the lone hit for the White Sox, a solid single with

two out in the fifth.

Dennis Heenan went 4 for 4 with two doubles and two RBIs and Martinez

added three hits and three RBIs for the winners, who scored two in the

first and broke it open with three in the fifth.

Infielders Jamie Heenan and John Ashen made sliding catches on looping

fly balls to key a strong defensive effort for the Cubs (17-4).

The White Sox, who defeated the Cubs, 5-2, Saturday to force the second

title clash in the double-elimination format, finished 18-5-1.

Kurt Yacko pitched three scoreless innings, had two hits and scored two

runs to lead the White Sox Saturday.

Phillip Martin added a two-run single and right fielder Ian Goodwin made

two shoestring catches for the Sox in that game.

In the Mustang Division:

The Dodgers (ages 9-10) used three pitchers and four RBIs by Peter Kinney

to defeat the Yankees, 4-2, Saturday at Kaiser Elementary.

Kinney, who had half the Dodgers’ four hits, tripled in two runs in the

first and singled in two more in the third.

Dodger pitchers Cameron Chase, Drew Littlefair and R.J. D’Cruz made that

stand up, outdueling Yankee counterparts Scott Ward and Garrett

McRoberts, who also threw well.

Cruz fanned five and allowed one hit in one relief inning, after Chase

and Littlefair each allowed one run in two innings, striking out four

apiece.

Ward fanned seven and McRoberts did not allow a hit in two relief

innings, striking out three to keep his team in it.

McRoberts also had two hits, while Yankee teammates Chris Griffin and

Spencer Smith added singles.

D’Cruz and Holden Gray-Keough rounded out Dodgers’ four-hit attack.

Defensively, Kinney, playing catcher, nailed a would-be base stealer at

third to help diffuse one Yankee threat and Stefan Brysha hauled in a

John Swift blast at the fence in the first to turn the Yankees away.

The Dodgers, whose last loss occurred March 23, finished 18-5.

The Yankees (14-12) were winless in three tries against the Dodgers.