NHBA Bronco: Newport ‘A’ All-Stars handle Los Alamitos

Tony Altobelli

LOS ALAMITOS - There’s always talk about defense giving the

opposition an extra out or two per game, but for the Newport Harbor

Baseball Association Bronco “A” All-Star squad, its defense seemed to

take outs away in Friday’s 6-1 win over Los Alamitos “B” at the Los

Alamitos Fish Fry Tournament.

“Our defense is very good and that allows us to do some things out there

like pickoffs and pitchouts,” Manager Kevin Heenan said. “Hopefully, this

game will get us going back in the right direction.”

Newport picked one runner off first base, threw out two runners at second

base and also turned a most unusual double play in the sixth inning to

keep Los Al scoreless at the Los Alamitos Little League Park.

Pitcher Dennis Heenan threw five strong innings, allowing only four hits

and one walk. He struck out six and used an effective selection of

pitches to keep the hitters guessing the wrong way.

“He got ahead of most of the batters, which I think was the key to his

success,” the elder Heenan said. “I really didn’t want to throw him five

innings today, but he was in great command of his stuff, so I kept him

in.”

After Los Alamitos took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Newport

quickly responded. After Heenan doubled to right and Billy Munce walked,

Alec Martinez singled to left-center, which scored Heenan to tie the

game.

Nick Frazier followed with a single, scoring Munce and sending Martinez

to second.

Martinez then stole third and scored on a passed ball, giving Newport all

the runs it would need.

In the fourth, Frazier doubled to center and scored when Dustin Schuler

clubbed a two-out, two-run home run to right, giving Newport some

breathing room at 5-1.

“Just before the game, I was talking to the players about stepping up and

getting the big hit,” Kevin Heenan said. “It was nice to see us get the

big hits today.”

Los Al’s best chance to cut into the lead came in the sixth inning. With

runners on first and second with only one out, Los Al’s Sean Plummer hit

a grounder to second baseman Donny Hunt, who bobbled the ball.

Not giving up on the play, Hunt saw the runner off the bag at third and

fired a strike to Schuler, who threw to Frazier at home to retire the

runner. Frazier then threw a bullet down to Hunt at second, who ran down

the hitter trying to return to first base for a 4-5-2-4 double play.

Newport closed out the scoring in the sixth when Heenan led off with a

double and scored on a single by Martinez.With a win Sunday (3:45 against

Los Alamitos “C”) Newport would advance to the District Tournament,

beginning Monday.