Giant steps halted by Angels, 8-5

Barry Faulkner

Their mere presence in the District 62 Tournament of Champions

semifinals made a compelling case for the kind of success the Costa

Mesa National Little League Minor B Giants achieved this year.

But, after a dramatic 8-5 loss Monday at the Robinwood Little

League complex, Giants Manager Randy Wood said the true tale of 2004

should begin with the events of their opening practice.

“We couldn’t even hit the ball,” Wood recalled of the early stages

of a season that, for four innings Monday against the Huntington

Valley Angels, appeared as if it would extend to Wednesday’s

championship game.

But, after building a 3-1 lead on the strength of back-to-back

fourth-inning home runs by Jesse Paz and Chad Fackler, the Giants

were overcome by four Angel runs in the fifth and three more in the

sixth to deny the Costa Mesa contingent another stop along its

developmental journey.

“We’ve done pretty darn well, considering where we were,” said

Wood, who noted the Giants’ roster included three first-year players.

The Giants have lost just twice, Wood said, since spending the

first half of their season, as per league policy, in a teaching mode.

“Those [first-half] games don’t count, so we play kids in all

different positions to try them out,” Wood said.

Since they began keeping score, however, the Giants’ continued

skill progression has featured the added benefit of consistent

victories.

Monday’s game followed that trend, as the designated home team

took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, then broke a 1-1 tie when Paz launched a solo homer over the left-field fence and Fackler drove one

over the fence in right center.

Paz used more than his bat to help the Giants take the lead.

Following up three no-hit innings in Saturday’s 8-2 quarterfinal win

over the Costa Mesa American Yankees, the right-hander struck out

seven in three strong innings as Monday’s starter. He surrendered

just three hits and did not walk a batter.

The Giants opened the scoring when Frank DiPrieto waked with one

out and advanced to third on a wild pitch and passed ball. After

Angels’ starter Tyler Dominick earned one of his seven strikeouts for

the second out, Giants second baseman Kyle Barnett dropped a

well-placed a bunt. The Angels’ first baseman, having broken in to

try to field the ball that was hauled in by Dominick near the mound,

could not retreat to first in time to get Barnett, who was credited

with an RBI single.

Paz’s homer, his first of the season, set off a wild celebration

by the Costa Mesa faithful, who then erupted even more loudly when

Fackler took the tour just a moment later.

The Costa Mesa hitting heroics, however, may have given the Angels

the jolt they needed, according to Manager Joel Groth.

“I had to go out and wipe a tear off [reliever Don Pierce’s]

face,” Groth said of his trip to the mound following the double dose

of dingers. “We had to overcome and we did. We’ve been behind in

every game in the Tournament of Champions.”

A combination of three singles, three walks, and a string of wild

pitches and passed balls, resulted in a four-run fifth for the

Angels, who had a runner thrown out at the plate to end the threat.

Pierce fanned two Giants in a perfect fifth, which upped Angel

pitchers’ strikeout total to 11 (they would finish with 12, including

seven by Dominick).

The Angels produced five of their 12 hits in a three-run sixth

that may have been worse, had not Fackler nailed a runner straying

too far from third on a pitch in the dirt.

“They had a few bloopers that killed us,” Wood said of the rally.

“If we catch a couple of those bloopers, we’d have been all right.”

Fackler’s heads-up defensive play was one of several made by the

Giants.

Paz sprung from the mound and grabbed a bounding ball with his

bare hand, then threw in one motion in time to get the out at first

in the second inning.

DiPrieto, playing first base, made a sparkling scoop of a low

throw across the diamond to secure the final out of the fourth.

Aaron Wood, playing first base in the fifth, collected an

overthrow to the pitcher covering and threw back to Fackler, who

tagged a runner trying to score from second on a wild pitch.

Tyler Tashiro walked and Alexandra “Big Al” Mazur was hit by a

pitch to start a Giant uprising in the sixth. After a groundout moved

both runners up, Tashiro scored on Matt Jarmacz’s RBI groundout.

Wood followed with an RBI single and Paz, who reached in all three

plate appearances and stole one base, walked to bring the tying run

to the plate.

But the game, and the Giants’ season, ended on a strikeout.

Aaron Wood struck out three in 1 2/3 relief innings and DiPrieto

fanned one in his 1 1/3 innings on the mound.

Ray Barkis, Sam Miller, Chase Whittaker and Michael Birnbaum, as

well as assistant coaches Frank Jarmacz and Bee Jay Mazur, also

contributed to the Giants’ TOC run.

The Angels, with a modest 12-8-2 record, continue their surprising

run in Wednesday’s title game against an opponent to be determined.

“No one expected us to be here and, to be honest, I’m not sure how

we’ve done it myself,” Groth said. “We’ve had to come from behind in

every single game, which really makes it nervous.”