Cup remains National treasure

Rick Devereux

The Costa Mesa Little League season came to a close Saturday at Costa

Mesa High with an impressive display of hitting, pitching and

fielding by the National League All-Stars.

The red-clad Nationals beat the green-wearing Americans, 10-0, to

win the Mayor’s Cup for the fourth consecutive year and fifth time

since its inception in 1997. The Nationals beat the Americans, 2-1,

on Thursday at TeWinkle in the opener to propel them to a sweep in

the best-of-three series.

“I told the kids that we didn’t want to be the team that loses the

Cup,” National Manager Clint Brown said. “We’ve had it the last three

years and we didn’t want to be the team to give it back.”

The Nationals scored five runs in the fifth inning to put the game

out of reach and secure the victory.

The first three batters reached base with hits into left field,

with Eusebio Castillo hitting a two-run single to the left-center

field gap. Two batters later Kevin Kiser lined a ball up the middle

to score Eusebio. Nick Federiconi singled up the middle next,

followed by Eric Mickleson driving in Eusebio with shot that hit the

fence in center field. Federiconi scored the fifth run when Gian-Paul

Stebbins hit a deep drive that hit the fence down the left-field

line.

When the inning was over, the Nationals collected five runs off

seven hits. Brown credits his team for following directions in the

final game of the season for the hitting display.

“We faced [that pitcher] in the regular season and knew he had a

great curveball, so I told my guys to [move] forward in order to take

the break away from the breaking ball,” he said. “If you do that,

it’s a nice, easy pitch over the middle.”

As high-scoring as the game was, it could have been worse for the

American All-Stars. In the bottom of the fist, the Nationals had the

bases loaded with one out, but the American defense stepped up to

only allow one run. Ryan Cherney, who finished the game 3 for 3 with

a walk and four runs scored, singled to right and scored the first

run of the game on Mike Markovsky’s RBI single to right.

“It could have been a mercy-rule [win for the Nationals],” Brown

said. “They really made some good plays to get them out of that jam.”

Second baseman Brandon Kelly gobbled up a ground ball and threw

out a runner at home plate for the second out and shortstop Dan

Hurley forced a runner out at third base to end the inning.

“That’s been our normal defense all year,” American first baseman

Garret Hirsch said.

The American All-Stars got out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation

in the fourth inning in the first game of the series on Thursday.

Cherney hit a hard line drive down the third-base line that got

past the left fielder, allowing him to reach second in the third

inning and score when A.J. Roth doubled to center. Roth stole third

and scored on a passed ball to increase the National lead to 3-0

before the five run fifth. The Nationals added two more runs in the

sixth inning for the 10-0 final.

Kiser, Castillo and Roth combined to allow two hits and only had

four runners reach second base in the game.

“We haven’t faced that caliber of pitching all year,” American

Manager Jeff Hirsch said. “But I’m real proud of everyone of my kids.

Our bats didn’t come around today, but it’s been a great year.

Hopefully it will end differently next year.”

Brown said the difference in the game was his approach to the

kids’ natural jovial moods.

“From Day One, I told these guys they were the biggest group of

goofballs I’ve ever coached,” he said. “I backed off them [Saturday].

I told them to go out there and play loose and fun, and it showed.”