Newport Beach American rallies for 13-9 victory

Barry Faulkner

In the increasingly saturated landscape of Little League Baseball

all-star tournaments, the notion that one can’t tell the players

without a scorecard is hard to dispute.

But faced only with a review of the scorecard detailing Saturday’s

District 55 first-round 11-year-old division game between Newport

Beach American and Rancho Niguel, it would be difficult to tell

anyone not in attendance just how Newport Beach pulled off the

improbable 13-9 victory at Wagon Wheel Sports Park.

The talent-laden Rancho Niguel lineup, featuring all the league’s

best 11-year-olds (three Newport 11-year-olds are playing for the

league’s Majors Division All-Stars), amassed 15 hits, including three

doubles and two triples.

Furthermore, three Rancho Niguel hurlers combined for 13

strikeouts in the 18-out game, while limiting Newport to just six

hits, five of which were singles.

The top four Rancho hitters went a combined 12 for 15 with eight

RBIs and four extra base hits, while first baseman Weston Nielsen was

the lone Newport player to produce more than one hit (2 for 3 with a

double and one RBI).

Rancho Niguel earned leads of 1-0, 5-2 and 9-5 over the first four

innings.

From there, however, Rancho Niguel’s argument for victory becomes

somewhat harder to locate, which, ironically, was the same problem

their pitchers had with the strike zone and their fielder’s had with

batted balls.

“I really think the difference was their pitchers walked guys and

ours didn’t,” Newport Beach American Manager Tom Morris said.

Newport benefited from eight walks and two hit batsmen, as well as

six Rancho errors.

Conversely, Newport’s pitching tandem of Sandon Griffin and Eric

Morris walked only one, while Newport fielders answered their three

errors with a string of sparkling defensive plays, especially after

the designated visitors took the lead in the final two innings.

Three Rancho errors led to five unearned runs in the fifth to help

Newport claim a 10-9 edge. Two more Rancho fielding miscues helped

Newport produce three insurance runs in the sixth and Eric Morris,

who threw two scoreless innings of relief, closed out the win with a

perfect sixth.

Newport shortstop Mitch Gardner made back-to-back fielding gems in

the fifth.

First, he ranged near the second-base bag to stab a bounding ball

while falling to his knees. While kneeling, he shuffled a few feet

back to his right to tag the bag in time for a force out.

The next Rancho hitter ripped a ground ball that glanced off the

third baseman’s glove toward short. Gardner plucked it out of the air

and threw to second for an inning-ending force.

Gardner retreated to flag a pop to shallow left-center for the

first out in the sixth. He also fielded a throw from second baseman

Zach Socoloski, who ranged to his right to turn a would-be single

into a force out in the third.

Newport, which advances to face Rancho Mission Viejo Monday at 5

p.m., had 11 different players score.

Morris’ RBI single made it 9-9 in the fifth and he scored the

go-ahead run on Nielsen’s squib infield single that went about 20

feet down the third-base line.

Griffin, whose unorthodox repertoire includes a knuckleball,

earned the pitching victory, striking out four and walking none in

four innings.