LITTLE LEAGUE: Reds denied, 11-1

Steve Virgen

MISSION VIEJO - To earn a first-round win in the District 55 Majors

Tournament of Champions, the Newport Beach Little League Reds needed a

championship effort.

Unfortunately for the Reds, they used up most of that winning juice on

Thursday in their NBLL championship game that went nine innings. So, on

Saturday, the NBLL Reds, tired and weary, lost, 11-1, to North Mission

Viejo’s Reds in four innings at Curtis Park in Mission Viejo.

The District 55 Tournament of Champions is a single-elimination event.

“Apparently we used up all our good fortune in Thursday’s championship

game,” said NBLL Reds Manager Fred Silva, whose team won the NBLL

American Division. “The kids are still exhausted. Our pitchers (Andrew

Silva and Blaine Nielsen) had sore arms from throwing on Thursday.”

Here was the difference: Newport Beach had only 41 hours of rest

before it had to play again, while North Mission Viejo pitcher Danny

Kelchner and his team had a full week’s rest, having last played on June

1.

Kelchner allowed just one hit, and that came in the fourth inning,

while his team gave him a comfortable lead to work with, scoring two runs

in the first, three in the second and eight in the third.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Reds scored their lone run,

when Nielsen crossed home plate after reaching base and advancing to

second on an error. Nielsen advanced to third on a passed ball, and Brett

Bartlett smacked a sacrifice fly to center field.

However, North Mission Viejo answered with an eight-run third inning

for an 11-1 lead, putting the game out of reach.

Relief pitcher Sean Tokuyama came on in the fourth inning to help

Bartlett complete a scoreless frame. Tokuyama struck out the first two

batters he faced, then later induced a flyout with the bases loaded.

Nielsen, who slammed a home run in the 1-hour, 45-minute championship

game Thursday, nearly sent another shot over the fence. In the fourth

inning, his deep fly ball to the left field corner was caught just in

front of the fence.