Baseball: St. Hedwig rallies to defeat NHBA, 5-4

Richard Dunn

LOS ALAMITOS - Following a day of incredible fun, the Newport

Harbor Baseball Association Bronco “B” All-Stars came out loose Sunday

morning.

But the Los Alamitos-based St. Hedwig “A” All-Stars, who seemed flat

most of the game, enjoyed the seventh-inning follies as it rallied for

two runs in its final at-bat to eliminate NHBA with a 5-4 win in the

District 3 All-Star Tournament at the Los Alamitos Youth Sports Park.

In the bottom of the seventh, St. Hedwig’s Logan Flagg, who homered in

the fifth inning, lined a single to left field to start the comeback.

Kevin Bodine, St. Hedwig’s No. 3 hitter, ripped a ground single to

right field, moving Flagg to third, and cleanup hitter Garrett Byrum’s

groundout to Newport Harbor second baseman Peter Hapke scored Flagg for

the tying run.

Bodine, who scooted over to third on the RBI groundout, scored the

winning run on Ryan Boufford’s clean single to left, pulling an inside

fastball on the first pitch.

“We’re looking forward to the team pretty much returning intact (next

year), and WE become the big boys,” said Newport Harbor Manager Ron

D’Cruz, whose team also played well in a strong showing (and loss)

against the La Mirada “A” All-Stars. “I think next year, judging from how

we played these ‘A’ teams, we’ll be the ones applying the hurt.”

The core of 11-year-olds, including catcher Troy Seeber, shortstop

R.J. D’Cruz and pitchers Jonathan Herdman and Brock Schuler, had a day of

batting practice Saturday, then members of the team changed into board

shorts and slid up and down a wet surface. And, as a capper, “they all

went swimming at the Balboa Bay Club,” the manager said. “That’s how we

ended our last practice.”

After two Newport Harbor errors allowed St. Hedwig to score in the

first inning, Newport tied it, 1-1, in the second when Herdman, the

club’s cleanup batter, singled, stole a base and came home on an error.

Harbor pushed across another run in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead as

Herdman walked and eventually scored on another St. Hedwig error.

Then, in the fifth, Newport scored again as Dan Winkle singled, stole

second base and scored on Hapke’s single to right field, giving NHBA a

3-1 edge.

St. Hedwig rallied for two runs in the fifth on Flagg’s home run and

an RBI infield single by Boufford. Bodine scored on the play, after a

single, passed ball and stolen base, tying matters up, 3-3.

Newport Harbor went ahead again, 4-3, in the sixth when R.J. D’Cruz

singled to right field, stole second and came home on Andrew Kaban’s

whistling RBI single to right.

“We were tasting (a win),” Ron D’Cruz said. “It was kind of a tease.”

Schuler, the Newport Harbor starter, pitched four solid innings of

two-hit ball, giving up no earned runs (one unearned) and fanning three.

Schuler walked two.

Herdman worked the final 2 1/3 innings and suffered the lossas St.

Hedwig sent the meat of its order to the plate in the seventh.

“We needed just three outs and we had one of our league’s best

pitchers on the mound,” D’Cruz said. “But they had the heart of the order

coming up and got hits when it counted.”

Hapke had two hits for Newport Harbor, while Seeber, D’Cruz, Herdman,

Kaban, Winkle and Kyle Rohan also collected hits.