Little League baseball: M’s outlast A’s

COSTA MESA - A two-run victory must seem like a relief to the Costa

Mesa American Little League Farm Division Mariners, who outmuscled the

A’s to win the title game, 13-11.

The Mariners had won their first two games by one-run margins, topping

the Angels, 7-6, and defeating the A’s, 8-7, before winning the rematch

with the A’s for the championship of the double-elimination tournament.

In the final game, the Mariners took an early lead, but the A’s went

ahead in the third inning.

But by the fifth, the Mariners regained the lead and kept the A’s from

overtaking them when third baseman Evan Castroverde and first baseman

Jack Carey combined to make a sparkling play for the last out.

Shelby Detmer’s fourth-inning home run highlighted the Mariners’

offense, which also included a clutch hit from Nate Stephens, who scored

a run.

Michael Block, Allison Tenega and Brendon Bonghanoy also played steady

defense for the Mariners.

Tenega and Kelsey Strunk had key hits in the game, while Christian

Meldrum, Brooks Watkins, Eli Gomez and Marco Piazza all helped the

Mariners with their bats.