Little League: Angels lose, “heartbreaker,” 5-4

Steve Virgen

MISSION VIEJO - Perhaps, the excitement of a tight District 55

Majors Tournament of Championship game resulted in an anxious umpire. The

home-base umpire said he lost his voice when he called an infield fly

when the bases were loaded, one of two crucial calls that didn’t go the

Newport Beach Little League Angels’ way, and they lost, 5-4, as San

Clemente Reds came from behind to win Saturday at Curtis Park in Mission

Viejo.

“That was a heartbreaker,” NBLL Angels Manager Bob Rovzar said. “I

never seen a call on an infield fly like that one. Our kids reacted to a

force (out). The ump indicated he lost his voice, and his other umpires

never backed him up (or echoed) on the call.”

In the pivotal bottom of the fourth, when the Reds were up to bat with

the bases loaded and one out, the Reds’ Lewis Craparona popped up a

looping fly ball toward the mound. It went off the pitcher’s glove, but

Hunter Alder reacted quickly, scooped up the ball and threw it to his

catcher. The Angels’ catcher, who just as the rest of the people in

attendance, never heard a call for an infield fly rule, and tagged home

plate. The umpire ruled a sliding Brandon Hughes safe. Alder, who threw

84 pitches in four innings of work, struck out the next batter to end the

inning.

More controversy ensued in the bottom of the fifth with the score

tied, 4-4. With one out, the Angels nearly completed a 1-3-2 double play,

but the umpire shouted, “He’s safe,” after the Reds’ Korey Engle slid at

home. This time, relief pitcher Andy Rovzar recorded a strikeout to end

the inning.

Then, the Reds protected their 5-4 lead when relief pitcher Brad

Curtis struck out the side to end the game.

The Angels scored one run in each of the second, third, fourth and

fifth innings, but they had a run taken away from them after a runner’s

interference call in the fourth inning. An Angels’ runner bumped into the

shortstop on his way to third base, apparently leading to a throwing

error.

Shane Boras, who played third base and shortstop for the Angels, led

the NBLL team with two big hits that led to two runs. He pounded out a

double to the gap in right-centerfield that scored Michael Page, who

singled to left, in the third. Boras also sent a hard-hit single to left

field that led to an error in the outfield, scoring Page, who walked, in

the fifth.

In the top of the fourth inning, the Angels displayed perfect examples

of bunting from Jordan Kurtz and Michelle Zucker. Travis Prickett took

advantage of a bizarre ground ball that rolled along the infield third

base line for a single. That play set the stage for the aforementioned

runner’s interference call on Rovzar’s whistling ground ball to the Reds’

shortstop. Prickett scored on the error. Kurtz also scored a run in the

second inning, after David Grant put the ball in play, which led to an

error.

The Angels missed out on a chance for a run, when Reds’ left-fielder

Jordan Alward made a pinpoint throw to home for an out in the top of the

third.