Irvine stars advance

Rick Devereux

The Newport Beach American Little League All-Star team had

opportunities, but failed to generate results from those chances in

its 4-3 loss to South Irvine in the District 55 11-year old All-Star

tournament Tuesday at Bonita Canyon Sports Park.

Trailing, 1-0, with runners on first and third with no outs, Brett

Thompson hit a fly ball to center field. The runner on third did not

tag up and attempt to score on the catch, even though the South

Irvine center fielder had to dive to make the catch. On the next

pitch, Newport attempted a double steal, but the runner was out at

home. The batter grounded out to the shortstop to end the inning.

An inning earlier, Newport had the bases loaded with one out, but

South Irvine’s Caleb Taylor struck out the next two batters to get

out of the jam. Taylor struck out seven batters in five innings on 82

pitches.

After the visitors scored three runs in the fourth inning, Newport

Beach made a push in the fifth.

Josh Giger scored from third base and Drew Blumenthal came all the

way around from first on Chip Zucker’s single to left field.

Thompson, the next batter, drove in Zucker with his hit up the

middle. The rally came to a halt on an inning-ending double play.

“I’m proud of how our kids battled back,” said Newport Beach

Manager Noel Thompson. “You can’t ask for anything more out of them.

I thought we had [South Irvine].”

Jacob Rubin pitched the sixth inning for South Irvine, striking

out the side on 15 pitches.

The score could have been worse, but Newport exuded impressive

defense.

After South Irvine scored in the first inning on a wild pitch,

there were runners on second and third with one out. A sacrifice fly

to right field looked like it would score another run, but right

fielder Michael Keasey threw a dart to home plate causing the runner

to retreat to third base. After a walk loaded the bases, Connor Gaal

forced a South Irvine player to pop up to second to end the inning.

Zucker made an outstanding diving catch in center for Newport in

the third inning and the infield of Cole Bowen, Zach Murtaugh, Erik

Fisher and Thompson made several plays.