Little League baseball: Cards fall short

HUNTINGTON BEACH - It was a case of hitting into bad luck for the

Costa Mesa National Little League Minor A Division Cardinals in

Saturday’s 12-5 loss to the Ocean View Mariners in the second round of

the District 62 Tournament of Champions at Wardlow Park.

“Today, we hit the ball real well, but we were hitting right at

people,” Cardinals’ Manager Bob Knapp said. “On the other hand, the

Mariners seemed to find every hole out there, but that’s baseball.”

Gerardo Chavez went 3 for 3 to lead the Cardinals’ offense, while Mike

Morley chipped in two key hits.

The Mariners jumped out to a 6-0 lead before the Cardinals could find

the scoreboard. Finally, in the third inning, runs by Morley and Chavez

brought the Cards to within four.

After the Mariners scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning,

the Cardinals had their best opportunity to get back into the game.

Danny O’Neil, Kevin Kiser and Ben Lefebvre each singled to load the

bases with nobody out. A passed ball scored O’Neil and a botched pickoff

attempt scored Kiser to make it 8-4. Roy Ortiz singled in Lefebvre to

make it 8-5, still with no outs, but the next three batters were retired,

ending the threat.

“I think that was our best opportunity, by far,” Knapp said. “We

scored three runs, but we had an opportunity to score much more.”

The final dagger came from the Mariners in the bottom half of the

fifth inning, when they scored four times.

“At this level, if you make one or two mistakes, the other team will

beat you and that was the case for us,” Knapp said. “Unlike our last game

(a 10-1 win) where everything went our way, today seemed like we couldn’t

get a break. It was one of those games that left you scratching your

head.”

Despite the loss, which eliminated the locals, nine Cardinal players

(Kiser, Morley, O’Neil, Lefebvre, Knapp, Wes Barloon, Joseph Dzida, Nick

Oliver and Taylor West) will be competing in the upcoming District 62

All-Star Tournament.