Nothing tricky about Ocean View’s victory

Patrick Laverty

Costa Mesa National Little League third baseman Alex Grosek caught

the popup and headed straight for the dugout. His teammates followed.

Ocean View promptly took the field.

It wasn’t until Costa Mesa catcher Ryan Knapp had already removed

his gear and Ocean View pitcher Bo Amaral was into his warm-up

pitches that the Ocean View coaching staff realized the out that

Grosek recorded was only the second in the top of the sixth inning.

“Alex sold it well,” Costa Mesa Manager Kim Pederson said. “I

wasn’t sure how many outs there were. I just said, ‘We’ll see what

happens.’ ”

What happened is Costa Mesa had to return to the field to record

the final out of the sixth inning, but it sure could have used the

two-out trick a few frames earlier.

Ocean View scored two runs in the third inning and three in the

fourth, all after two outs had been recorded. The five runs helped

them overcome an early one-run deficit and post an 8-1 victory that

knocked Costa Mesa out of the District 62 Major All-Star tournament

Wednesday at TeWinkle Middle School.

Things looked solid early for Costa Mesa, trying to bounce back

from a 4-1 loss to Huntington Beach Seaview on Monday. Josh Ryding

belted the first pitch he saw, a high fastball from Ocean View

pitcher Andrew Ragsdale, over the right-field fence for an

opposite-field home run in the first inning and Costa Mesa hurler

Gavin Montague shut down the Ocean View bats through the first two

innings.

But underlying that early 1-0 lead was a continuation of what

plagued Costa Mesa in its loss to Seaview, an inability to get a

clutch hit.

“We couldn’t get a big hit,” Pederson said. “It was exactly the

same as the last game.”

Costa Mesa left nine runners on base, including four in the first

two innings. On Monday, the left seven runners on base, also

stranding four in the first two frames.

Unable to add to its lead, Costa Mesa then watched its greatest

strength go on vacation when a trio of errors led to two unearned

runs with two outs in the top of the third.

“We’ve been a great defensive team for two games,” Pederson said.

“We slipped a little and let them have a little momentum.”

Amaral reached on an error and advanced to second on another. He

then scored on Dalton Hintz’s single. Hintz, who went 4 for 4 with

two runs scored and three runs batted in, took second base on the

throw home and advanced to third on Costa Mesa’s third error of the

inning. He then gave Ocean View a 2-0 lead, scoring on a wild pitch.

In the fourth inning, Costa Mesa’s defense reverted to form, but a

questionable call by the home plate umpire allowed Ocean View to pad

its lead.

With two outs and a runner on second, pinch-hitter Brian Cassidy

singled to center field. Costa Mesa’s Danny O’Neill came up throwing

and appeared to gun down the lead runner at the plate, with Knapp

applying the tag. But the runner was ruled safe, pushing the lead to

3-1.

Three straight singles followed, scoring two more runs, but right

fielder Nick Pederson made sure there was no question about the third

out in the inning by throwing out Amaral at the plate after a single

by Hintz.

Costa Mesa attempted to battle back, but the result was simply

more runners left on base. Even when it looked like a key hit was

coming, Costa Mesa was stymied.

In the bottom of the third inning, after Ryding reached on an

error, O’Neill hit one of the hardest balls of the night. But it was

right back at Ragsdale, who knocked it down and recorded the force

play at second.

O’Neill, who had two singles to lead Costa Mesa, was stranded on

base three times. Others left standing included Troy McClanahan,

Montague and Frank DeNoewer, all of whom reached base on singles.

Taylor West, who walked, and Knapp, who was hit by a pitch, were left

on base in the bottom of the sixth inning.

“Their heads are held pretty high,” Pederson said. “We did the

job, we just couldn’t get the key hit.”

Despite the early exit from the tournament, Costa Mesa National

Little League still has at least two more games, with a best-of-three

series upcoming against Costa Mesa American Little League for the

2003 Mayor’s Cup.

“It’s tough to go two-and-out,” Pederson said. “We’ll try to

regroup. It will be a challenge.”