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.
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