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Arcadia Weekly Jun 28, 2012
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-Photo Courtesy of Eric Shen
Matthew McIntire turned in another dominant postseason pitching peformance and catcher Mikey Easter went 4 for 4 and scored four runs to lead Arcadia American Little League to an 11-3 win over East Altadena Red Saturday in the opening round of the California District 17 8-9 Year-Old All-Star Tournament at Donnelly Field in Pasadena. AALL advances to the winner’s bracket quarterfinals this Saturday against an opponent to be determined.
McIntire, fresh off helping pitch the AALL Minors Angels to the District 17 City championship in a tournament where he won two key games, was at it again Saturday as he scattered four hits in four shutout innings to earn another victory. The 8-year-old right-hander struck out two and walked two and was supported by strong infield play. After East Altadena Red ruined the shutout in the fifth inning, Kellen Gewecke came in to close out the game in short order by retiring three of the four batters that he faced.
Easter, McIntire’s regular season teammate who was an offensive star in the same city tournament and named the MVP of the recent Cecil Fielder Elite Tournament in Arizona, had a perfect day at the plate with four singles, four runs scored and five stolen bases along with two runs batted in. Easter played a strong game behind the plate and threw a runner out stealing even though the pitch he received was in the dirt.
Gewecke, who helped lead the Indians to the AALL Minors Tournament championship, led the game off with a walk and then stole second before scoring on the first of Easter’s RBI hits. Easter then stole second, third and finally home to give AALL a quick 2-0 lead, which was more than enough for McIntire to work with. He retired nine of the first 11 batters he faced, before pitching out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth when East Altadena had runners at first and second with one out. But he got the next two batters on a comebacker, and a popup to end the East Altadena Red threat before giving way to the bullpen.
Gewecke, Eskridge, Mikey Hillier and Ace Belvoir added RBIs for AALL, which had 11 hits. AALL could have perhaps won the game more decisively but left the bases loaded twice. East Altadena Red had six hits.
