National walks off with win

COSTA MESA — When intracity Little League All-Star rivals meet annually in the best-of-three Mayor’s Cup series to decide the Costa Mesa city youth baseball championship, the competition can be, well, wild.

But the term took on a more literal meaning in the opening game of the 2009 series, won by the Costa Mesa National Little League 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars, 11-3, Monday at Costa Mesa High.

Costa Mesa American pitchers issued nine walks and added five hit batsmen to help the visitors prevail. The win avenged an 9-4 victory posted by Costa Mesa American in District 62 All-Star Tournament play recently.

It also puts Costa Mesa National, which typically feeds players to Estancia High, one win away from claiming the Mayor’s Cup from the American squad from which players typically matriculate to Costa Mesa High.

Game 2 is today at 5:30 p.m. at Costa Mesa National’s field at TeWinkle Intermediate.

“Truthfully, [American pitchers] just walked too many kids,” said National Manager Mark Rogison, whose team had only two hits through five innings, but owned a 7-3 lead.

“I wish I could say we had a bigger hand in it,” Rogison said. “But when [pitchers] started to throw the ball over the plate, we hit it, so that was good.”

The winners had four hits in a four-run sixth inning to add to the onslaught, including an RBI double by Cody Nelson and a run-producing single by Hunter Rogison.

National was led by starting pitcher Jake Brown, who struck out six and walked one in five strong innings. Brown, who allowed seven hits, countered with two hits in four at-bats from the leadoff spot. He drove in a run and scored two.

Daniel Neff had a hit and scored twice for the winners, for whom Hunter Rogison drove in two.

Zack Cosner added a hit, while Kage Kistler had an RBI and a run and Sean Fisher scored a run for the visitors.

Costa Mesa American, however, was not without its stars, foremost among them Daniel Morales.

The left-hander sparkled defensively at shortstop. He made a handful of quality plays, the best being one in which he ranged to his left to snag a grounder up the middle. While continuing toward the second-base side of the bag, he gathered himself well enough to throw out the runner at first, drawing imitations of ESPN SportsCenter theme music from the crowd.

Morales also paced an offense that produced eight hits. He launched a three-run home run over the right-field fence in the fifth to account for all of his team’s runs. He added a single and was two for three with a stolen base.

It was the third home run of the season for Morales.

American leadoff man Johnny Blommer was two for three with a walk, while A.J. Axtell, Joey Cox, Mickey Beliakoff and Michael Huff also had hits for the home team.

Neff pitched a scoreless sixth inning, most importantly failing to reach the 20-pitch limit that would have made him ineligible to pitch today, under Little League rules.

Morales also stayed under the limit, and may get the call to start today’s game on the mound.

Wyatt Kanocz made two acrobatic catches of fly balls in right field for the victors, battling the sun to stab the ball from the air both times.

“[Kanocz] was a star today with those two catches,” Mark Rogison said. “Because you know he didn’t see the ball [cleanly] on either one.

“They beat us [in the District 62 Tournament], so this is a little payback,” Mark Rogison said. “But we expect it to be a [much tougher game today].”

American Manager Chris Cox said his pitchers have struggled to find the strike zone in two consecutive games now.

Costa Mesa American committed two of the game’s three errors, but neither led to any unearned runs. However, four National runs scored on wild pitches.