All-Star baseball: NHBA Mustang All-Stars fall in title game

Bryce Alderton

LOS ALAMITOS - It didn’t matter that they had just lost the

championship game of the Los Alamitos Fish Fry tournament, the Newport

Harbor Mustang A All-Stars (ages 9-10) smiled with their second-place

trophies in hand as they walked off the field Tuesday at the Farquhar

Avenue complex.

They were just happy to get to the tournament finale against

Whittier’s A team, going 6-0 en route to the championship game before

bowing out to a hot-hitting and aggressive Whittier team Tuesday that

defeated Newport Harbor, 13-3, in a game shortened to five innings by the

10-run mercy rule.

With only three practices before the tournament began, Newport Manager

Rich Hogan was pleased to get his team this far.

“If someone told me that we would have only three practices and be

standing here today getting trophies ... Everyone of the guys should be

proud of what they’ve done,” Hogan said. “I’m proud of the way we hit the

ball. I was standing in the third-base (coaching) box and (a Whittier

coach) was telling me how concerned he was about our hitting.”

Newport banged out seven hits, five coming in the second and third

innings, when Newport scored one and two runs, respectively.

In the second, Newport starting pitcher Alex Maddox ripped a double

off the wall in right-center field, then moved to third on a fielder’s

choice. Left fielder Chris Gowdy then grounded to the pitcher, who threw

home. But Maddox slid his foot underneath the tag, scoring Newport’s

first run to draw to within 3-1.

Newport pulled even with two in the third, as Blake Davey ripped a

double off the center-field fence. Davey scored when Ryan Albert’s line

drive fell in front of a charging Whittier left fielder and rolled under

his glove.

Justin Todd walked and scored on another Maddox double that hit the

right-field fence.

But Whittier came right back in the bottom of the third with a run

before blowing the game open with a six-hit, eight-run fourth.

Whittier sent 11 players to the plate in the fourth, taking advantage

of five singles, a double and a walk to score eight times. Once they got

on base, Whitter runners gave Newport Harbor pitchers a lot to think

about, stealing 14 bases, six in the fourth.

Pony League rules allow runners to lead off and Whittier took full

advantage.

Hogan said he wished his team displayed better fundamentals, but plans

to work with his pitchers on keeping runners close when tournament play

begins July 11.

“We will work on the fundamentals and we’ll get better,” Hogan said.

“These kids are very capable of stepping up and doing it. The difference

today is their team was more fundamentally sound.”

Maddox finished 2 for 2 with a run and an RBI while Gowdy was 2 for 2

with an RBI. Davey went 1 for 3 with a double and scored a run and Albert

walked and scored a run.

Chad Seeber and Austin Deyan also had hits for Newport Harbor and

Elliott Kaufman battled the sun in right field to catch two fly balls.

Whittier catcher Robert Cavazos threw out two would-be base stealers

at second and third baseman Nick Oddo turned two sharply hit balls into

outs.

Oddo starred at the plate as well, going 3 for 3 with two runs, three

stolen bases and one RBI. Four Whittier players scored at least two runs,

with Michael Leidelmeyer scoring three times. Leidelmeyer singled twice,

doubled and had an RBI, while Michael Hill went 1 for 2, scored twice and

had two RBIs.

With the win Tuesday, Whittier won its 13th All-Star tournament game

and second tournament title this season. The team captured the Irvine

Memorial Tournament in May, going 6-0.