Robinwood withstands Mesa heat

Bryce Alderton

After each season Costa Mesa American Little League Majors division

Angels Manager Jeff Hirsch gives his players medals. They’re

something the kids can look up at when they lie in bed, he said.

Hirsch, a coach for 12 years, presented the players with medals

again Thursday, but it was a little sooner than either he or they

would have liked.

In a battle of two teams named Angels, Robinwood thwarted every

Costa Mesa threat and came away with a 3-0 victory in a first-round

District 62 Tournament of Champions game at LeBard Field.

Robinwood (14-9), which finished second in its league, snapped

Costa Mesa’s nine-game winning streak and advanced to Saturday’s

quarterfinals.

“You win within your league, but [at the TOC] it’s the best of all

the other leagues, so it is tough,” said Hirsch after handing medals

to his players and suggesting a pizza place to partake in a postgame

meal. “We had the bases loaded twice with full counts and [Robinwood

reliever Henry Owens] worked his way out of it. [The Costa Mesa

Angels] had a great season and that is the main thing.”

Robinwood, the designated home team, sent Costa Mesa, which went

undefeated in claiming the league title, its first shutout loss of

the year.

But it didn’t come easy.

Costa Mesa left nine men on base, including the bases loaded in

the third and fourth innings.

“I’m used to [close games], but I don’t like them,” Robinwood

Manager Rob Huffman said. “It seems [Owens] does better when there

are two runners on base. Then he is lights out.”

Owens, who struck out five in three innings, entered in the fourth

for starter Mitch Huffman, with Robinwood nursing a 1-0 lead.

Costa Mesa loaded the bases with two outs in the third on Matt

McEachern’s single up the middle that nearly turned into an RBI.

Hirsch, coaching at third base, yelled to the runner at second to

go home on McEachern’s hit, but he stopped at third.

“I told him to go home, but there was yelling from the dugout and

he froze,” Hirsch said. “It was a little communication blunder. I

guess he didn’t hear it and I didn’t yell loud enough.”

But Costa Mesa was far from quiet the rest of the game, loading

the bases with one out in the fourth.

Leadoff hitter Austin Quon reached on an error and went to second

two batters later on Dylan Dailey’s chopper to the right side. The

Robinwood first baseman rushed in to field the ball, but the second

baseman was late getting to the first-base bag and Dailey beat the

throw to reach safely. Tyler Sheffner walked on four pitches to load

the bases.

But Owens spotted his fastball for strikes on the corners of the

plate and fanned the next hitter before going to a full count on

Costa Mesa leadoff hitter Danny Hurley.

Hurley lined the seventh pitch in the at-bat softly to the

shortstop to end the inning.

Costa Mesa, still trailing, 1-0, again put the pressure on in the

fifth.

Garrett Hirsch and Matt McEachern each singled up the middle to

begin the inning.

Owens fanned the next hitter before Quon grounded into a fielder’s

choice, giving Costa Mesa runners at second and third with two outs.

Owens struck out the next batter on a high fastball to quash the

rally.

When asked if he thought about bunting the runners over, Hirsch

said the idea crossed his mind, but he didn’t want to take the “bat

out of his No. 4 hitter’s hands.”

McEachern went 2 for 3 with two singles while Garrett Hirsch

singed twice and walked in three plate appearances. Starting pitcher

P.J. Maloney added a single to complete Costa Mesa’s five-hit attack.

Robinwood tallied six hits, two in the fifth, when it scored their

final two runs.

After a walk to leadoff hitter Joey Wagner, Mitch Huffman

connected on a tailing fastball for his first home run of the season,

an opposite-field drive that hit the top of the right-center-field

fence before bouncing over.

Maloney, Costa Mesa’s No. 1 starter, struck out three, walked no

one and allowed four hits in four innings before giving way to Quon,

who struck out one in an inning of relief.

“During the season, our bats were deep enough to withstand three

runs,” Jeff Hirsch said of his team’s offensive propensity. “It’s a

little tougher [in the TOC] batting nine. It’s not the lineup we’re

used to trying to put the right pieces together.”

Teams bat one through nine during the TOC. Costa Mesa American

rules allow teams to bat one through 12.

Brian Waldron belted five of Costa Mesa’s 12 home runs this season

while Quon (three), McEachern (three) and Sheffner (one) also

provided power.

Jeff Hirsch praised his team’s camaraderie and the leadership

exhibited by captains Waldron, Hirsch and Hurley.

“I’m pleased with these kids. It was a great year,” he said.

They can now look up and see the medal hanging from the wall.