West Zone Pinto District and Sectional All-Star Tournament:

Whittier walks past Newport Harbor, 16-3.

Bryce Alderton

GARDEN GROVE - There is a saying in baseball that goes, “A walk is

as good as a hit.”

And for Whittier Little League’s Pinto (7-and-8-Year-Olds) B team, a

walk was as good as a hit Saturday, as they took advantage of 14 walks by

Newport Harbor Baseball Association Pinto B pitchers, and went on to win,

16-3, in five innings in both teams’ first game of the double-elimination

West Zone Pinto District and Sectional All-Star Tournament at Westhaven

Park.

Whittier scored 10 runs in the fifth after a five-run fourth after

Newport Harbor had the lead, 3-1, after three innings.

“We played real strong the first three innings,” said Newport Harbor

Manager Jeff Davis. “Our pitching looked pretty good. They just had the

timely hits when they had guys on base.”

Whittier had 10 hits with six different hitters scoring at least two

runs on the day.

Newport Harbor managed four hits, all singles, that came in the first

three innings”We hit the ball, just hit it right at (Whittier),” Davis

said. “Whittier played pretty solid. They had good pitching and

disciplined hitters that weren’t swinging at anything outside the strike

zone.”

In the pivotal fourth and fifth innings, Whittier batters walked three

consecutive times in the fourth, and five out of six batters took their

free base in the fifth.

Whittier hitters took advantage of those free passes.

In the fourth, Whittier center fielder Brandon Fortenberry singled

down the right-field line, taking second and third as Newport Harbor

catcher Conrad (C.J) Jona ran to retrieve the ball at the backstop after

an errant throw from the outfield. Fortenberry sprinted toward home as

Jona extended his arm to tag Fortenberry. The two collided, with the ball

coming loose and both Jona and Fortenberry lying on the ground.

After a few seconds on the ground amidst Whittier fans encouraging him

to still touch home, Fortenberry got up and stepped on home plate,

getting his three-RBI hit.

The collision rattled Jona’s arm, but he applied ice and should be

ready to play in Newport Harbor’s next game, according to Davis.

Newport Harbor’s next game is 5 p.m. Monday against the winner of Los

Alamitos A and Placentia, who play today at 1 p.m. at the same site.

In the fifth, first baseman Jonathan Rodriguez’s grounder into center

field resulted in two runs scoring and a fielder’s choice force out at

second as center fielder Addison Appleby fired to Cole Blower covering

second base.

Just an inning earlier Appleby fielded a grounder in center and threw

to Blower covering second for another force out.

Heads-up play in the field pleased Davis.

“We played well mentally. Guys hit their cut-off man and threw to the

right bases, so I was happy with that,” Davis said. “The mental

(mistakes) we try to stop and I thought (Newport Harbor) did a pretty

good job of that.”

Newport Harbor second baseman Brian Manning led the hitting attack,

going 2 for 3 with two singles and a run scored, while starting pitcher

Jason Wooding had an RBI single and scored a run in the second as Newport

Harbor scored two runs to take a 3-1 lead. Brett Parker walked, stole a

base and scored the Newport run in the second.

In the third Jona hit a comebacker to the pitcher who threw home, but

Manning, who eluded the shortstop’s tag and advanced to third on Parker’s

grounder on the previous play, slid under the catcher’s tag with Newport

Harbor’s third and final run.

Wooding provided solid pitching for three innings, allowing one run

(unearned) on two hits while striking out six and walking three in 65

pitches.

Whittier coach Richard Rodriguez felt his hitters became more

disciplined as the game wore on.

“In the later innings our kids waited for balls to be in the strike

zone and we got some good runs,” Rodriguez said. “We had some big hits

from John Rodriguez and Fortenberry came through with some clutch hits

for us. Everyone did well. This is definitely a team effort.”

Whittier third baseman Justin Dankert led all hitters with five RBIs

on the day, collecting three on a sharply-hit double that rolled to the

fence in left-center field in the fifth. Cody Steig went 1 for 2 with two walks and a single, scored two runs and had an RBI, and Ryan Lopez walked

three times, scored two runs and had one RBI.

Win or lose, Davis said the support will always be there.

“We have a really good group of parents that have kids at practices

that are ready to play,” Davis said. “It’s been a good experience for me

as a coach.”