CMALL Majors: Last-inning rally tames Tigers

Tony Altobelli

COSTA MESA - A solid season came to a sudden end for the Costa Mesa

American Little League Major Division Tigers as they dropped a 6-5

decision to the Robinwood Cardinals in the first round of the District 62

Tournament of Champions Tuesday afternoon at Costa Mesa High.

“It’s a disappointing way to end a season, but it was a great season

nonetheless,” Manager Ted Spoulos said. “We lost some very good players

from last year’s team and replaced them with quality Minor A players, who

stepped up and did a great job for us.”

It was the sixth straight trip to the tournament for the Tigers, a

stint destined for the second round until a three-run, sixth-inning rally

by the Cardinals spoiled those plans.

“We had four 12-year-olds and the rest 11- and 10-year-olds, so we did

a great job to get this far,” Spoulos said. “We should be even stronger

next year.”

The Tigers, the designated visiting team, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in

the first inning. Cody Spoulos led off with a walk and advanced to second

on a single by Nick Peterson.

After a wild pitch moved up both runners, Cody Waldron walked and Adam

Gardner smacked a single to right, scoring Spoulos and Peterson.

The Tigers continued to add on the pressure when Steven Hamasaki

walked to reload the bases. But Cardinal pitcher Tyler Borkovetz struck

out the next two batters to end the threat.

The Cardinals built off of that momentum and took the lead in their

first at-bat. Jamie Swain, Darby Crowley and Ryan Donahue each scored to

give the Cards a 3-2 advantage.

The Tigers answered right back in the second inning when Chris

Rodriguez laid down a perfect bunt single and Spoulos reached on an

error.

Both runners advanced on a wild pitch and Andrew Millian followed with

an RBI grounder, scoring Rodriguez. Peterson came up and belted a single

up the middle to score Spoulos and after another wild pitch, Gardner

followed with his second hit and third RBI, giving the Tigers a 5-3 lead.

“What can you say about Gardner,” Coach Spoulos said. “He’s our only

10-year-old. He works hard, he hustles and he’s a pleasure to have on

this team.”

The Cardinals tried to respond in the second by loading the bases with

two outs, giving their cleanup hitter a chance to do some damage.

On an errant pitch, the runner from third tried to score, but Waldron,

the Tigers’ catcher, hustled after the loose ball, made a nice backhanded

toss to the pitcher, Peterson, who covered the plate and applied the tag

on the sliding runner to retire the side.

From there, both teams settled down and neither team could mount much

of an offensive attack.

Tigers’ pitcher Scott Shafer pitched two solid innings of relief

before running into some trouble in the sixth inning.

“There’s no rhyme or reason to his pitching form and I think he uses

that to his advantage,” Coach Spoulos said. “I don’t even think he grips

the ball the same on each pitch or anything, but he did a great job. He

just got a little flustered in the final inning.”

In that sixth inning, a single and two walks loaded the bases. A wild

pitch scored the Cards’ fourth run and a two-run single to center by

Swain ended the contest.

“We got a little nervous in the last inning, but that’s baseball,”

Coach Spoulos said. “Now some of our players move on to all-stars, so

that should be exciting.”

The Tigers (17-8) had five players, Millian, Peterson, Shafer, Spoulos

and Waldron selected to this year’s District 62 All-Star Tournament, the

most from any CMALL team.