VFW shows South Irvine no mercy

VFW, a few days removed from defeating Laguna Surf and Sport for the

Laguna Beach Little League Majors Division title, began its quest for the

2002 District 55 Tournament of Champions crown by blasting South Irvine,

10-0.

The game, played at the Youth Sports Park in Mission Viejo, was called

by the Mercy Rule after four innings of play.

VFW set a dominating tone in the bottom of the first inning by sending

13 batters to the plate. Those hitters produced nine runs and the rout

was on.

Devin Hands capped the scoring in a big way by hitting a booming home

run to dead center field.

His drive was estimated at 230 feet.

Hands also drove in the first run in the opening frame with a bases

loaded infield single.

Colby Ammerman’s double to the gap in left-center field drove home the

next two runs before Gabe Stansbury picked up an RBI single for a 4-0

lead.

The onslaught continued when Matt Austin delivered an RBI ground out

and Cooper Gwaltney singled in a run. Drake Dixon followed with a walk

and Charles Moothart singled, setting up Kevin Buck’s RBI to make it 7-0.

Keegan Valaika completed the nine-run inning when his double scored

two runs.

Buck recorded the pitching win with a strong performance that included

two hits -- one in the infield, the other to shallow right field. Seven

of the 12 batters he faced went down on strikes, including four

consecutive batters.

He also had two assists on the mound.

Buck received defensive backing from Austin, Ammerman, Moothart, Will

Armstrong and Alex Shusko.

In other games:

VFW 3, Surf and Sport 2

Prior to the start of the Tournament of Champions, VFW earned the

Majors Division No. 1 seed by rallying past rival Laguna Surf and Sport

in the Laguna Beach Little League Majors championship final at Riddle

Field.

Dalton Sype gave Surf and Sport a quick lead with a leadoff home run

to left-center field in the first inning, and he was followed by Shane

Snyder’s cannon to dead center field.

His home run put VFW in a 2-0 hole.

But VFW gained a 2-2 tie in the third inning.

The two-out rally, Charles Moothart drew a walk, stole the next two

bases and scored on a Surf and Sport error. When Keegan Valaika laced a

hit just inside the first base line, he raced all the way to third base

and scored Kevin Buck.

In the fifth inning, VFW took the lead for good when Cooper Gwaltney

doubled when his grounder ricocheted off the first base bag. He was moved

to third base on Moothart’s infield single and an intentional walk to

Buck, a plan that backfired when Valaika drew a walk to force home what

turned out to be the winning run.

Surf and Sport threatened once more in the sixth inning when Sype and

Michael Tachovsky singled. It was then that Buck came on in relief of

Valaika, who pitched the first 5 1/3 innings. After pitching around Surf

and Sport heavy hitter Caine Fair to load the bases, Buck induced a pop

up to Moothart at shortstop for the second out, then successfully handled

a come backer to the mound for the third out to preserve the victory.

Valaika gave up two runs on six hits with six strikeouts in his

pitching stint.

Sype was impressive in defeat as he limited VFW to only five hits

while recording eight strikeouts.