Little League Baseball: Newport Beach rally comes up short

Richard Dunn

MISSION VIEJO - For the Newport Beach American Little League Minor

A All-Stars (9- and 10-year-olds), the real fun is just beginning.

Following Tuesday night’s 9-6 championship semifinal loss to host

North Mission Viejo in the Area A All-Star Tournament at Youth Sports

Park, Newport Beach must win five games in five days -- starting today --

to come back and win the double-elimination tournament.

“It gets really fun now,” vivacious NBLL Manager Bart Thomsen said.

“That’s the great thing about this tournament. It’s a true

double-elimination tournament. You have to lose twice to be eliminated.

We have to win (today at 5 p.m.), Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so

we’re living down here in Mission Viejo. And our ace, Michael Bloom, will

be on the mound (today).”

NBLL (3-1 in the tournament) enjoyed sparkling defensive plays and

solid hitting, but North Mission Viejo found the right holes and

delivered at the right time as the hosts rallied to win.

After Newport Beach scored six runs in the third inning to take a 6-4

lead, North Mission Viejo came back with three in the fourth and held its

7-6 edge until the sixth, when Mission Viejo added two insurance runs.

“Today just wasn’t quite our day,” Thomsen said. “They got a lot of

bloop singles and balls just found a way to get through. But we also made

some really good defensive plays ... it was just a weird game. They

scored a lot of runs on little things.”

North Mission Viejo pulled ahead, 4-0, in the second inning on

back-to-back RBI bloopers by Joey Finiguerra (3 for 4 with four runs) and

Joel Atkinson, the starting pitcher who was chased in the third.

Parker Werline opened Newport Beach’s six-run third inning with a

too-hot-to-handle single off second baseman Sam Kim’s glove. After a walk

to Bloom, John Christian singled to center to score Werline.

After an out, Blake Thomsen’s infield single plated Bloom, then Chris

Freeman’s RBI infield single scored Christian. Thomsen moved to third on

the play, while Freeman took second on a throwing error. Nick Flamson

walked to load the bases, then, an out later, Michael Borchard walked to

force in a run and tie matters, 4-4.

Following a pitching change, Werline greeted reliever Kyle Dillard

with a two-run single to right, scoring Freeman and Flamson, as NBLL

built a two-run cushion.

Dillard, however, settled down and shut out NBLL the rest of the way,

keeping hitters off balance with an assortment of pitches.

“They threw some nasty curveballs for 10-year-olds,” Bart Thomsen

said. “Occasionally, Michael Bloom will throw a curveball. But they threw

a ton. We were unprepared for curveballs as a team of 10-year-olds.”

In the fifth inning with NBLL trailing by a run, Ben Capaldi almost

tied it by himself. Capaldi singled with two outs, stole second base and

third on the same play when nobody was looking or covering the base.

Capaldi sprinted for home on a wild pitch, but Dillard’s tag on the

shoulder beat him to the plate, after the North Mission Viejo pitcher

received the throw from catcher Jacob Cauoette from the backstop.

In the sixth, Newport Beach threatened again, but it came up short as

Dillard worked out of a tough jam. Borchard singled and Werline walked to

start the inning, but Dillard retired the heart of NBLL’s batting order

in succession to end it.

Christian made two excellent defensive plays at first base for NBLL,

while Werline had two hits and two walks.