Despite Loss, Westchester Was Happy With Its Play : Baseball: The Babe Ruth District 2 runner-up advanced to the championship game before losing to Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks, 6-5.

The Westchester all-star baseball team wasn’t disappointed after a 6-5 defeat to Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Saturday, even if it was the championship of the state Babe Ruth age 14 tournament.

Westchester (4-2), the District 2 runner-up, received an at-large berth to the seven-team double-elimination tournament at Glendale Hoover High. It lost to Van Nuys, 2-1, in the first round July 31 before winning its next four games.

The team defeated District 2 champion West Torrance, 5-0, in the semifinals on Friday. The previous week West had beaten Westchester twice in the district tournament, including a 6-4 victory in the final.

“West Torrance was the team we wanted to beat,� Westchester third baseman Andre Gomez said. “We got them, but we came into this game a little worn out, I guess we were out partying too late. We put all our heart into the West game.�

Gomez, who drove in three runs and scored twice against West, had two hits, including a home run, and two runs batted against Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks. He was selected as the tournament’s most valuable player.

The sophomore from Venice High had nine hits in 19 at-bats for a .473 average. He was also was 2-0 on the mound. Gomez did not give up a run in 11 innings of work. The right-hander went the distance in a 6-0 third-round victory over Escondido and pitched four innings against West.

Westchester, seeking its second age 14 title in four years, outhit Van Nuys, 9-7, in the seven-inning game. Its five runs were the most given up by Van Nuys (4-0) during the tournament. No other team had scored more than three runs against the District 4 champion.

Van Nuys, which won the age 13 title in 1992, defeated West (3-2), 11-1, in a semifinal game called in the sixth because of the 10-run rule Thursday.

“A lot of people thought we wouldn’t be (in the final),� said Westchester second baseman Ray Muro, who had two RBIs. “We had to play so many games in so many days. We didn’t do too bad for a second-place district team.�

Westchester trailed, 4-0, after the first, but closed to 5-3 on a solo home run by Gomez in the fifth. Gomez scored Brian Hart from third base on a two-out bloop single to center field during a two-run sixth to cut the deficit to 6-5.

Westchester had its chances to force extra innings, stranding seven baserunners. It stranded baserunners in five of the last six innings and left Gomez and Shawn Grady, who had two hits, at second base in the sixth and seventh innings.

“We are playing our best ball right now,� Gomez said. “We were tired from (Friday) and it took that big first inning by them to wake us up. We started picking it up in the end but it was a little too late.�

Muro scored Greg Hayes on a sacrifice fly to center field for his team’s first of two runs in the sixth inning to bring Westchester to within, 6-4. Hayes also scored on a line-drive single by Muro for Westchester’s first run in the third.

Van Nuys, which advances to the regional tournament in Elk Grove beginning Saturday, pushed across a run in the fourth to for a 5-2 lead. It added another run in the fifth to go ahead, 6-3.