Baseball: CMNLL Dodgers pull it out

Joseph Boo

HUNTINGTON BEACH - It took a little longer than expected, but the

Costa Mesa National Little League Dodgers pulled it out at the end.

The Dodgers, regular season Majors runners-up, saw a 3-0 lead evaporate

in the top of the sixth to the Seaview Little League champion Reds during

Monday’s first-round game in the District 62 Tournament of Champions at

Ocean View Little League Park.

But the Dodgers’ Dallas Kopp made the Reds’ unlikely comeback a moot

point with his dramatic two-out double that drove in the winning run in

the sixth for a 4-3 Dodgers victory.

With the count full, Kopp smacked a fastball into the right-center-field

gap. That scored Cory Weikel, who had singled with two outs, from first

for the walk-off win.

That gave the Dodgers the right to face either the Westminster champion

or the Fountain Valley runner-up Saturday at 9 a.m. at Ocean View.

Before the sixth, the story of the game was the Dodgers’ ace pitcher

Hillary Larson, who simply dominated the Reds. She only gave up two

baserunners, one on a single and another on an error. She did not walk a

batter.

“If I had to rate her pitching performance, I would give her a 10,”

Dodgers Manager Mike McDaniel said. “She pitched a great game.”

The Dodgers spotted her a 3-0 lead after three innings. In the second,

Larson hit a one-out single. She came home after three straight walks to

Nicholas Smith, Juan Chaires and Alek Henka. Henka had the RBI base on

balls.

The Dodgers put up two more runs in the third. Matthew Jeranko hit a

towering fly ball to left field, which was dropped. He ended up scoring

on two wild pitches.

Larson gave herself a 3-0 lead in that inning by ripping an RBI

line-drive double to left field. That drove in Bryan Nobuhara, who

reached on a walk.

Larson was on cruise control afterward and three runs seemed to be more

than enough. Her most impressive performance came in the fifth. After an

error allowed a Red to reach first with no outs, Larson struck out three

straight hitters looking to silence the Reds.

It took until the sixth inning for the Reds to score, but they put enough

on the board to extend the game. Michael Sheedy touched the Dodgers first

by hitting a line-drive home run with one out.

After a single, the Dodgers got a force play at second and was one strike

from winning the game. But the Reds’ Val Beebe hit an RBI double to cut

the Dodgers’ lead to one.

Beebe then reached third on an error and scored the tying run on a wild

pitch.

“The kids started to get down after that,” McDaniel said. “But we told

them that all we need is one run. We managed to get the kids settled down

and loose.”

But only the coolest of cucumbers could not sweat on the Dodgers’ side.

Sheedy quickly struck out two Dodgers and got a first-pitch strike

against Weikel. But Weikel singled, which allowed Kopp to come to the

plate. He battled Sheedy to a full count before he finally crushed a

double to give the Dodgers a prolonged, but satisfying victory.