Baseball: Americans, 2-1!

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - In a game neither team deserved to lose, the Costa

Mesa American Little League Majors Division All-Stars team took the first

game of the 2001 Mayor’s Cup with a 2-1, eight-inning victory over the CM

Nationals Wednesday at Costa Mesa high.

“It was a great game and it definitely took some of the sting off of

some of the big losses we withstood at the District 62 Tournament,” CMALL

Manager Ted Spoulos said. “Both teams played great today and this is

going to be a great series.”

Game 1 hero for the Americans was first baseman Cody Waldron, who went

3 for 4 and ended the two-hour contest with a walk-off solo home run to

right field in the bottom of the eighth, giving the early series lead to

CMALL, 1-0.

“I know the ball carries well here, but the way the right fielder was

circling out there, I thought he might have a play on it,” Spoulos said.

“Apparently, he got just enough of it to get it out of here.”

Waldron may have been the hero of the eighth inning, but the rest of

the game belonged to CMALL starting pitcher Adrian Armenta, who tossed a

complete-game gem, allowing only seven hits through eight innings. He

walked nobody and struck out five.

“Adrian was hitting his spots all night long,” Spoulos said. “Whatever

the coach would call to throw, Adrian hit the glove every time. It was a

great performance.”

It was a tough night offensively for the Nationals, who scored their

only run on a solo home run to left by Matt Jeranko.

“I’m glad we play more than just one game in this tournament,” CMNLL

Manager Bill Redding said. “This will be a tournament the kids will never

forget and whoever loses, the winner won’t let them forget it.”

Armenta and CMNLL starting pitcher Vinnie Valdez each kept the other

team off the scoreboard for the first three innings. Valdez struck out

five before being taken out in the fourth. “He overpitched in the first

few innings,” Redding said. “We’ve got a ton of pitchers who can throw

well, so we went to the bullpen.”

After C.J. Roum opened bottom of the fourth inning with a single to

right, Andy Dawson walked and Cody Spoulos reached on a bunt single to

load the bases.

After the next two batters struck out, Nick Peterson overcame an 0-2

count to coax an RBI walk, scoring Roum and giving the Americans a 1-0

lead. A strong defensive play up the middle by second baseman Ryan

Redding prevented further damage in the frame.

The Nationals quickly responded with Jeranko’s home run, which cleared

the left-field fence, tying the game. “It’s always nice to see something

like that happen for a nice kid like Matt,” Bill Redding said.

CMALL missed several opportunities to put runs on the scoreboard, but

instead, stranded 11 runners in the game. Valdez and Austin Elliott each

managed to get the big out when they needed for CMNLL.

The score remained tied after six innings, forcing only the third

extra-inning contest in Mayor’s Cup history.

Both teams went down in order in the seventh inning and the Nationals

had two runners on in the eighth, but Armenta managed to escape from the

inning unharned.

“Give a lot of credit to Adrian,” Bill Redding said. “He did a great

job of changing speeds and he kept us off-balance.”

Finally, in the bottom of the eighth, Waldron ended the game with his

solo blast to right. “We figured coming in we were the underdogs in this

thing,” Ted Spoulos said. “All we’ve heard and read about was how strong

the Nationals are and they are a good team, no doubt about it. This is a

long way from being over.”

Game 2 of this best-of-three showdown is tonight at 5 at TeWinkle

School (Harbor and Gisler).