M’s lose control, contest

Bryce Alderton

The Reds, champions of Robinwood Little League’s Minor A division,

struck it rich Saturday. They found a pot of walks, but the visiting

Mariners, from Costa Mesa American Little League, all but led them

down the path to the treasure.

Mariner pitchers issued eight free passes and with a grand slam

sandwiched in there, the Reds rolled to a 10-0 victory in a District

62 Tournament of Champions quarterfinal game that didn’t get out of

the fourth inning at LeBard Park.

Mitch Huffman lined a bullet over the fence in left-center field

for a grand slam, padding the Reds’ lead to 5-0 in an eight-run third

inning.

“That grand slam took the wind out of our sails,” Mariners Manager

John Stephens said after he gathered his players and told them where

the postgame pizza party would be held. “You can’t make any mistakes

against a team as good as that. Our pitcher challenged [Huffman] and

it didn’t work out.”

Singles by Chris Schaaf and Joey Sterling were the only other

Reds’ hits in the third, but three walks and two errors contributed

to the eight-run outburst.

Four consecutive walks to open the fourth inning gave the Reds

their 10th run to end the game under the 10-run mercy rule.

The Mariners (12-11) went quietly at the plate, getting their only

hit when Matt Langmos, playing his first year of organized baseball,

sent a single into center in the fourth. A walk to Martin Mysinski

provided the Mariners’ only other base runner Saturday as Reds’

pitchers combined for nine strikeouts.

Of seven Mariner strikeouts through three innings, four were

looking.

“That is not good,” Stephens said of the statistic. “We were not

aggressive enough at the plate in the first three innings. You’ve got

to take a chance.”

Tyler Sheffner started on the mound for the Mariners and went

three innings, striking out five.

He was helped in the field by two strong defensive plays in the

second inning. Catcher J.T. McLucky fielded a bunted ball, which

rolled along the chalk along the third-base line, and fired to

shortstop P.J. Maloney covering third for the force. One batter

later, Stephens, playing at third, knocked down a soft liner with his

glove and touched the bag for the final out of the inning.

“We made some good plays and there were some we didn’t make,” John

Stephens said.

James Lewis, Nathan Olson, Matt Mello, Kyle Peterson, Dakota

Gilbert and Matt Logue all saw action at the plate Saturday.