A familiar role for Robinwood

Mike Sciacca

To win the 2002 District 62 Majors Division All-Star Tournament of

Champions title, Robinwood will have to play the role of rude guest

-- again.

Last Saturday, Robinwood took to the road and defeated Seaview,

5-4, in an exciting and well-played showdown that determined the Area

2 competition, which was hosted by Seaview.

The victory thrust Robinwood into the division’s two-out-of-three

championship series against unbeaten Huntington Valley, which claimed

the Area 1 title last Saturday by eliminating Fountain Valley, 1-0.

Huntington Valley is hosting the best-of-three championship series

this week.

Robinwood jumped out to a 3-0 lead over Seaview through one inning

of play, getting their runs on walks to Cody Stroud and Tyler Rinker,

a two-out, two-RBI triple by Ryan Donahue and Kyle Buchan’s RBI

double.

Seaview countered with a single run in the top of the third on

Austin Rovazzini’s RBI single. Kenny Miller later collected his

second hit of the game, a two-RBI single and in the fifth, Rovazzini

recorded another RBI and Anthony Paterno smacked an RBI double to

knot the score at 4-4.

In the bottom of the fifth, Rinker got on board via a one-out walk

and moved to third on Donahue’s double. Rinker scored what turned out

to be the decisive run on a wild pitch.

Robinwood called upon Paul Strong to close on the mound. He

recorded two quick outs before Miller singled to center field to keep

Seaview’s hopes alive. But Strong struck out the next batter he faced

to end the game.

Robert Herron started on the mound for Robinwood.

Seaview had battled its way through losers bracket play with

consecutive wins over Costa Mesa American and Ocean View to earn

another game with Robinwood.

Robinwood had defeated Seaview, 3-1, in a first round game on July

6.

“This was another example of a Seaview team that was well balanced

and fought to the very end,” Robinwood manager Ted Rinker said. “My

hat goes off to a class act in manager Mark Amaral and his coaching

staff for a game well played. We also thank the Seaview president and

all the league’s volunteers who hosted an excellent All-Star

tournament site.”

Robinwood eliminated Ocean View from title contention by scoring a

wild 10-9 win on July 10.

As it did against Seaview, Robinwood struck quickly in this one,

getting four first-inning runs. Donahue had an RBI single, but the

big blow was Buchan’s three-run home run.

Ocean View sliced the deficit in half in the second inning on

Phillip Cobb’s two-RBI triple and drew even in the fourth when Daniel

Williams’ two-RBI single made it a 4-4 game.

The slugfest continued in the bottom of the fourth as Brian

Frattali singled and scored on Ryan Multz’s double up the gap to give

Ocean View a one-run advantage. With the bases loaded, Herron hit an

RBI single and was followed by a bases clearing triple by Donahue

which put Ocean View on top, 9-4.

Ocean View got two more runs back in the fifth on Scott Baxter’s

two-RBI double to make it 9-6.

Seaview scored its 10th and final run in the bottom of the fifth

on a triple by Justin Callina, which scored Frattali.

But the game was far from over as Ocean View staged one final

rally in the sixth inning. Miller had a base hit, Mickey Moses

walked, Dalton Hintz hit an RBI double and Baxter delivered a two-RBI

single to narrow the gap to 10-9.

Strong came on to pitch and got the save for Robinwood and

preserve the one-run victory.