Little League baseball: Marlins walk past Diamondbacks

HUNTINGTON BEACH - The Costa Mesa National Little League Minor B

Diamondbacks matched the Huntington Valley Marlins hit for hit Monday

night at Wardlow Park.

But the Marlins capitalized on a stream of walks to collect a 7-1

victory in the Area 2 final of the District 62 Tournament of Champions.

The loss ended a monumental 18-5 season for the Diamondbacks, who

became the first CMNLL Minor B team to win two games in the annual

postseason tournament featuring the top teams from leagues in Costa Mesa,

Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Westminster.

The Marlins, the designated home team, opened the scoring two runs in

the first.

The Diamondbacks halved the deficit when Austin Rice singled to lead

off the second, stole second and third and scored on an RBI single by

Chase Harrington.

Corey Dryden had a pair of hits and Brian Mauer also singled to round

out the five-hit attack for the Diamondbacks, comprised of 9- and

10-year-olds.

Jesse Fox made a sparkling catch in right field and pitcher Mike

Pierce snagged a line shot back to the box to highlight the Diamondbacks’

defensive effort, according to Jim Rice, an assistant coach acting as

manager, while Manager Andy Pierce was out of town.

Despite the loss, Rice praised his players for posting a season of

distinction.

“We had an awesome year,” Rice said. “We started off with four weeks

of no practice, because of rain, but the kids pulled together and became

a good little team. We tried to teach them to play baseball and to have

fun. Having fun was the name of the game for us.”

Huntington Valley scored twice in the second, once in the third and

twice in the fifth to advance to Wednesday’s District 62 Tournament of

Champions title game against the Area 1 winner.