Mets’ strong season ends

Chris Yemma

For Costa Mesa National Little League Minor A Manager Randy Wood and

the rest of the Mets’ squad, merely qualifying for the District 62

Tournament of Champions was an enormous accomplishment.

“Our league is really good, so just to make it is great,” Wood

said.

So it wasn’t an enormous letdown when his team was edged by the

Seaview Angels, 2-0, in a quarterfinal matchup Saturday at Mile

Square Park.

“We played right, we just didn’t get the hits we needed to score,”

Wood said. “[The Angels] are a great team and it was a close game.”

The Angels, Seaview’s No. 2 team, advances to Monday’s semifinals.

The Mets, Costa Mesa’s No. 2 team, finished the year 13-2.

A large portion of the Angels’ success Saturday was due to the

pitching combo of Jake Vanherk and Tyler Jones, who combined for a

two-hit shutout.

Reliever Jones entered in the fourth and tossed three innings of

no-hit ball.

Angels’ Manager Brian Semmelroth said his team’s deep bullpen has

been the key all season, including Saturday’s win over Costa Mesa.

“[Costa Mesa] showed up to play baseball against us, but our

pitching has so much depth,” he said.

Semmelroth credited the Mets with solid play.

“This was one of the toughest teams we’ve faced all season,” he

added. “They had great spirit.”

The second inning proved to be pivotal.

Hitting in the No. 6 spot in the lineup for the Mets, Spencer

Owens sliced a grounder to left-center and Tyler Borkton followed

with a precisely-placed single to right. When the outfielder bobbled

the bounding ball, both runners advanced on the error, putting Mets

on second and third.

Max Home then walked to load the bases with two out.

But a pop-up ensued for the final out and the Angels plowed ahead

in the bottom of the inning.

John Senvinuti led off with a double to center and John Freedman

sacrificed him to third.

Tyler Jones then singled to right field to give the Angels a 1-0

lead.

Mets’ pitcher Christian Aguilar prevented any sort of blowout,

though, inducing two quick outs to end the inning.

Aguilar struck out four while allowing two hits and one earned run

in three innings.

Jesse Paz pitched the fourth inning, allowing a hit and a run, and

Aaron Wood closed the game with no hits and no runs in one inning.

“We’ve had three main pitchers who have all had a solid year,

defensively and offensively,” the elder Wood said.

The manager added that the younger Wood had a .620 batting average

throughout the season, while Aguilar finished at .530.

But the main area of focus all season was defense, Wood said.

“The kids have come a long way since the first day of practice,”

he said. “The defense played well [Saturday] and it has covered us

all year.”

The Mets’ defense committed just one error and made a key double

play in the fifth, stifling an offensive charge by the Angels.

The Angels’ John Freedman led off the inning with a walk, but

Aguilar fielded the next batter’s grounder at short, tagged second

and zipped it to Alex DeSoto at first for two quick outs. After Colby

Cook reached on the lone Mets’ error, Wood struck out the next batter

to close the inning.

Jones, however, retired the side in the sixth to seal the victory

for the Angels.

“[Getting to the Tournament of Champions] has been our goal all

season,” Randy Wood said.

Other Mets’ contributors included Brooks Watkins, Matt Thomas,

Daniel Lee and Brandon Kingsley.