Sportsworld rolls on in postseason

Mike Sciacca

Postseason rankings don’t seem to faze Sportsworld.

Having taken care of third-seed Rotary four days earlier, Sportsworld

did a number on second seed Laguna Surf and Sport in a second round game

of the Laguna Beach Little League Majors Division playoffs, pulling off

an 11-6 upset.

Sixth-seed Sportsworld opened up a 5-0 first inning lead and led the

remainder of the way en route to setting up a third round match up with

top seed and regular season champion VFW on Saturday.

Game time is 11:30 a.m. at Riddle Field.

Walks by Jordan Ginger, James Borgese and Ross Hamera, combined with

consecutive singles by Joe Meehan, Taylor Brusky and Shane Springer,

translated to the five-run first inning.

But Laguna Surf and Sport, despite losing starting catcher Christian

Bosworth in the top-half of the first inning, rallied back in their first

at-bat. Dalton Sype singled and was followed by consecutive home runs by

Michael Tachovsky and Caine Fair to narrow the gap to 5-3.

In the third inning Sportsworld extended its lead to 7-3 on hits by

Meehan and Springer, plus the blazing speed of Borgese, who walked and

eventually stole home. Laguna Surf and Sport countered yet again, getting

a booming double by Nicco Okamoto-Coen and a towering home run by Matt

Miller, to draw within 7-5 through three innings.

But the game’s momentum quickly swung back to Sportsworld as a triple

by Brett Barrett and base hits by Jake Sganga, Ginger and Brusky extended

the lead to 10-5.

Ginger got the pitching win and Blake Henderson’s defensive play

helped deflate several potential rallies by Laguna Surf and Sport.

In other games:

Sportsworld 4, Rotary 3

Sportsworld shook off a dismal start to the season, when it lost nine

of its first 11 games, to win four of its final five games of the regular

season.

Their improvement continued with this opening round upset of No. 3

seed Rotary.

An error and single allowed Jake Sganga and Jordan Ginger to score the

game’s first runs on a base hit by Joe Meehan, before Rotary ace Austin

Hyden came up with three strikeouts.

Rotary countered in the first inning with a run as Nick Witte walked

and scored on a fielder’s choice, and tied the game in the second on a

double by Roy Herbert and a sacrifice bunt by Dylan McDonald.

The score remained tied at 2-2 until the fourth, when Hyden singled,

stole a pair of bases, and scored on Lorenzo Torriero’s long fly ball to

center field, the sacrifice RBI giving Rotary its first and only lead,

3-2.

Sportsworld took the lead for good in the fifth when Meehan delivered

a clutch two strike, two out double to score Blake Henderson and Sganga

for a 4-3 lead.

Meehan backed his offensive heroics by retiring the final six batters

he faced, notching four of his 11 strikeouts as he finished with a

complete game, three-hit victory.

Rotary 8, Fire Fighters 0

Nick Witte pitched a one-hit shutout and notched seven strikeouts as

Rotary kept its postseason tournament title hopes alive.

Lorenzo Torriero delivered two key hits, one a two-RBI double, the

other an RBI ground out, to lead Rotary on offense.

Chris Smith, who played a strong game at first base, had a two-RBI

single, Jack Monroe hit an RBI double, Roy Herbert singled twice, Austin

Hyden doubled, and Witte singled to add to the attack.

Michael Lewis doubled for the Fire Fighters.