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Arcadia American Little League Fall Short of Majors Tournament of Champions Title
Arcadia Weekly Jun 22, 2016
VIP tables at center piazza. Photo by Giuseppe Mastrobuono
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The Dodgers’ Gruppie (5) slides past home plate. – Courtesy photo
Baseball can be a game of inches, and if Devon Eskridge’s screaming line-drive, last Thursday night, at Allendale Park traveled a little higher or left or right, the Dodgers might have ultimately given the Arcadia American Little League its second straight majors Tournament of Champions (ToC) title.
Unfortunately for the Dodgers, East Altadena (EA) Tigers’ first baseman Cade Nightengale made a sensational, leaping grab of the ball with two runners on, two out, and perhaps the Dodgers’ hottest hitter on deck, to preserve a 7-4 victory in the annual ToC championship game before a standing-room only crowd.
The Dodgers had more than a few reasons to be disappointed. First, they had, to this point, survived a daunting tournament draw and had to win three games in the first four games of competition to even reach the final, eliminating the Pasadena American Angels (with an impressive 23-3 record) in a very tough tournament opener, the Central Altadena Rays the very next day, and then two days later, the red-hot Santa Anita Red Sox.
Second, the Dodgers had already defeated the EA Tigers twice in two stirring regular season games, rallying from a 6-2 deficit to win 8-7 and 4-3 in extra innings. (The wire-to-wire winners of the AALL championship brought a 12-game win streak into this game).
Third, last Thursday, the Dodgers repeatedly failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities, leaving nine runners on base, including the bases loaded in the first when they had a chance at a big inning. They left two on in the sixth when Eskridge was retired after he had sharply doubled in his prior at-bat, with Gruppie, who had already knocked in three runs, eagerly awaiting a chance for one more at-bat on deck.
Finally, despite making only 14 errors in 20 regular season games, the Dodgers struggled in the field in the ToC, and especially in the final when they committed three big errors that led to three unearned runs – the difference in the game against the best-hitting team in the district.
Much of the credit for the Dodgers inability to break through for a big inning goes to Tiger pitchers Owen Baughan, Nightengale and Riley Russell, who made their best pitches in clutch situations. Russell threw four solid relief innings to close the game, allowing a home run to Mikey Easter and two-run double to Gruppie, while striking out seven and walking only one. Russell escaped a tough situation in the fourth with a huge strikeout with two runners on and Easter on deck.
Dodger’s pitcher Mikey Easter. – Courtesy photo
The hitting star for the Tigers was shortstop Josh Beserra , who was three for three at the place, with two doubles and a home run, including an RBI double in the first when East Altadena scored two unearned runs. But the key hit for the Tigers was Elijah Sippel’s big three-run home run that gave the Tigers a commanding 6-2 lead.
Easter did get a pitch to hit and singled to extend the Dodgers’ final inning, but was walked eight total times in the ToC, including three intentional walks by the PALL Angels in the tournament opener.
In that game, matching teams with a combined record at the time of 41-5, the rusty Dodgers spotted the Halos a 3-0 lead before scoring five times in the fourth inning and holding on for a tense 5-4 victory. All-Star Will Clougherty’s RBI single knocked in the first Angel run, and he doubled and scored in the fifth, but that was as close as it got as Gruppie came on to get the final out with the potential tying and winning runs on for a well-deserved save. Eskridge got the pitching win, throwing 3 and 2/3 solid innings and allowing only one earned run. Ari Nurhadi drove in two runs for the Dodgers.
Dodgers Little League- Courtesy photo
In a quarterfinal game the very next day, the Dodgers scored early and often in eliminating the Central Altadena Rays, 19-0. Eskridge was four for four, with a triple, double, and four RBIs; Lance Wong knocked in four runs with a pair of long doubles; and Brendan Weisinger had two hits and three RBIs in support of Gruppie who allowed no hits in earning the pitching win.
But the play of the day was Dodger Dash Ferrante taking a Ray home run away with a stunning back-handed grab over the left-field fence that merited the home plate umpire giving him the game ball right then and there – just another in a series of circus catches by Ferrante in his first Little League season.
With that, the District 17 schedulers finally and generously gave the Dodgers a day off before facing their Santa Anita Little League rivals, the Red Sox, in a semifinal game that everyone wanted to see.
Easter was touched for an unearned run in the first inning, but was in command throughout as the Dodgers won, 7-1. The big hit was catcher Jadon Fann’s second-inning grand slam just inside the left-field foul pole. Easter struck out 11, walked only one and allowed only two hits before Gruppie closed the game out with a strike out with two runners on.
Despite being pitched around, Easter managed five hits in the ToC, as did Eskridge and Weisinger, but it was Gruppie who led all Dodger hitters by going six for 10, with six RBIs.
The Dodgers completed a great season with a 21-3 record and were an impressive 18-0 in interleague games before the Tigers finally defeated them.
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