NBLL Triple A: Dodgers postseason run ends

Barry Faulkner

MISSION VIEJO - Boldly going where few Newport Beach Little League

Baseball teams ever dare, the Triple-A Dodgers, following two victories

in the District 55 Tournament of Champions, were finally eliminated by

the Trabuco Canyon Astros, 9-3, Saturday at Gilleran Park.

Manager Van Holland’s squad, which would have advanced to the Area B

title game with a win, appeared to heed Holland’s assurances afterward

that they had nothing for which to hang their heads.

“These kids had a terrific (regular) season and a terrific postseason,”

Holland said. “They’ve come from behind on numerous occasions, they’ve

held off charges and they’ve played with a lot of heart.”

Heart wasn’t the problem Saturday, as the Dodgers were felled by a

quality Astro contingent, as well as a rare defensive miscue, which put

the locals in an early hole.

After a pair of walks and a fielder’s choice loaded the bases, third

baseman Kevin Holland left his feet to backhand a grounder down the line.

He then fire to the plate for a force to keep things scoreless in the

first.

But Astro starting pitcher Zach Henderson then lined a single into right

field, which rolled through the outfielder and all the way to the fence.

Henderson sped home to score on the play, turning the three-base error

into three unearned runs and a 4-0 cushion.

The Dodgers settled down with the leather from that point on, even making

a few stellar defensive plays.

But Henderson, making his first mound appearance in six weeks, did some

settling down of his own.

Astros Manager Fausto Reyes asked Henderson, the team’s regular catcher,

to give him a few pitching innings, so the top two hurlers could save

enough innings to throw in the championship game (Little League rules

limit the amount each player can throw per week). And he did just that,

striking out six and refusing to allow a hit, before returning to his

familiar spot behind the plate.

“He’s not a pitcher,” the elder Reyes said of Henderson. “But he looked

like one today.”

Dodger pitcher Carlo Valdes, however, kept his team close, working

scoreless innings in the second and third, backed by the aforementioned

defensive prowess.

Dodger right fielder Charles Vickery pounced on a bloop single down the

line and threw to second in time to erase a would-be double for the first

out of the second.

Center fielder Eric Berkley caught a fly ball for the second out, then,

after an infield error, fielded a base hit up the middle and gunned to

third to nail a runner trying to advance from first to end the threat.

Left fielder Sean Ryan made a running catch on a fly ball for a key out

in the third.

Danny Moskovits drilled Astro reliever Kevin Reyes’ first pitch into

center for a single in the fourth, advancing to second when the ball was

misplayed.

Valdes followed with a single to left to put runners on the corners, then

stole second. After a strikeout, catcher Sean Berkley jumped on the first

pitch for a two-run single to second, halving the deficit.

Reyes singled in two in a three-run fourth to reestablish a comfortable

Astros lead, but Valdes singled in Holland, who had walked, in the fifth

for the Dodgers’ final run.

Henderson, Reyes and David Zeuske, who worked the final inning, combined

for 12 strikeouts as the Astros advanced to meet a team from host Viejo

Little League tonight.

Moskovits, who along with teammates Valdes and Holland were selected to

play for the league’s two all-star teams, which begin tournament play in

July, went 2 for 3 with a lineout to right field. He also struck out six

in three relief innings.

Valdes finished 2 for 2 with a walk, while Nicholas Russo-Larson walked

twice and stole a base.

First baseman Michael Tanzier also made a fine defensive play on a sharp

grounder for the Dodgers, who defeated Laguna Hills, 10-6, and Rancho Santa Margarita, 10-9, earlier in the tournament.