Newport National All-Stars keep good sense of humor

Barry Faulkner

The cynical overtones that can envelop a Little League baseball

diamond didn’t seem to creep into the dugout of the Newport Beach

National 11-year-old All-Stars Saturday.

Despite an 11-2 first-round loss to Rancho Santa Margarita, in

fact, the spirits of the players, as well as Newport National Manager

Scott Jones, seemed downright undaunted at Wagon Wheel Sports Park.

“We kept battling,” said Jones of Saturday’s effort, in which

Newport, the designated visitor, took a 2-0 first-inning lead, only

to see Rancho Santa Margarita post seven runs in its first at-bat,

thanks in large part to three Newport errors.

“Those first-inning jitters on defense killed us,” added Jones,

whose team managed just one hit in the final five innings off hulking

Rancho pitcher Danny Aguirre.

“That kid is bigger than anyone in our league,” Jones said of

Aguirre, before waxing comedic about the hard-throwing right-hander,

who struck out nine in a complete-game victory.

“Someone said they saw [Aguirre] driving to the game,” Jones

quipped. “I asked the home plate umpire if he had checked [Aguirre’s]

birth certificate and he said, ‘Don’t worry, I checked his driver’s

license.’ ”

But despite the apparent physical mismatch, Newport yielded just

two runs and three hits to Rancho Santa Margarita in the second,

third and fourth innings.

By then, however, Aguirre, who issued two of his three walks in

the first inning, appeared to settle down on the mound.

Trailing, 9-2, in the fifth, Newport loaded the bases when Stephen

McAfee reached on an error, Grant Davis walked and, after McAfee was

forced out at third on a ground ball to the third baseman, Clark

Cashion laced a bad-hop single past the shortstop.

But Aguirre fanned the next hitter and ended the inning on a

comebacker to keep his team well in command.

Cashion was the hitting star for Newport, producing a pair of

singles and scoring a run in three at-bats. He also played solidly

behind the plate after coming in from left field to don the catcher’s

gear in the second inning.

Third baseman Andrew Machoskie posted Newport’s lone RBI, lining a

single to right field to plate Cashion in the first.

Preston Risser walked with one out to start Newport’s first-inning

rally. He advanced to third on Cashion’s line single to center, with

Cashion taking second on the resulting throw home.

After a line drive was caught by the shortstop for the second out,

Risser broke for home on a wild pitch. But when the Rancho catcher

quickly recovered the ball near the plate, Risser put on the brakes

and headed back toward third. Cashion, anticipating Risser scoring,

was then caught off second, prompting the catcher to throw behind him

to second base in a pickoff attempt. The throw, however, was

misplayed and Risser slid safely into home to narrowly beat the

return throw from shallow center field for Newport’s first run.

Shortstop Garrett Larson threw to Cashion at home to nail a runner

trying to score on a grounder in the fourth.

Cashion flipped to pitcher Austin Jones covering home to cut down

a runner trying to score on a wild pitch in the fifth and left

fielder Donald Dalton threw out a runner trying to go from first to

third on a single in the fifth.

Newport Beach will attempt to stay alive in the tournament Friday

at 5 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.