Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Yanks win two to regain second place in division

By Dick Sparrer

The Yankees had spent most of the season in second place in the major division of the Los Gatos Little League--until just recently, that is.

The Expos passed the Yanks in the division race, and entered play last week a game up on the Yankees in the standings.

The clubs were facing a two-game head-to-head series last week, and the Yankees knew just what they had to do if they wanted to move back into second place--win both games.

And that's just what they did.

The Yanks beat the Expos 12-8 on Monday, then came back with a 12-6 win on Saturday. The two wins helped the Yankees improve to 9-3 in the division while the losses dropped the Expos to 8-4 and back into third place.

Danny Bates blasted a three-run homer to key a four-run first inning rally and start the Yanks on the road to the 12-6 win over the Expos on Saturday.

Jason Livingstone doubled, singled twice and scored four runs to help the Yankees to the win. He also tossed four innings of two-hit baseball, striking out four.

Bret Hampton clubbed a pair of triples, knocking in two runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth, and Kyle Jensen had two hits. Derrick Thomas and Michael Robards each doubled.

Marc Helleboid singled and doubled for the Expos and Chris Danser doubled.

Earlier in the week, Livingstone crushed his league-leading fourth homer of the year and he also doubled to lead the Yankees to the 12-8 win over the Expos.

Steven Whitham doubled and tripled in the win, Nathan Swartly and Hampton each had two hits, Emerson Dinapoli belted a two-run triple, Danny Bates and Beau Brigham each doubled, and Robards had a hit and three walks.

Kyle Jensen tossed two innings on shutout relief to get the win for the Yankees.

Danser had a couple of hits for the Expos and Rishi Satia threw three solid innings before the Yanks broke it open in the fourth.

The Pirates maintained their perfect record with two more victories last week. The Bucs edged the Marlins 9-6 and 4-2 in a couple of major division games.

J.P. Grist and Cory Graham teamed to toss a two-hitter in the 9-6 win on Thursday. Grist struck out six in three innings of work and Graham fanned three over the final three.

Charlie Self ripped a two-run double in the fourth and Adam Hudson tripled for the Pirates. Grist singled and walked three times, scoring a pair of runs.

Two days later, Grist and Graham combined to shut down the Marlins 4-2. Graham fanned four in three scoreless innings and Grist whiffed six.

The Pirates led 1-0 heading into the fifth when they broke the game open with a three-run rally. Grist was hit by a pitch and Graham chased him home with a double. Hudson singled home Graham, then stole second and scored on a single by Self.

Self and Graham had two hits apiece in the win.

Southpaw Patrick McDonald threw four strong innings for the Marlins.

The Giants pulled to within a game of .500 at 5-6 with a pair of wins last week. The Giants knocked off the Padres 11-6 and turned back the Indians 10-4.

Jeremy Bays tossed three shutout innings and also singled and doubled to lead the Giants to the win over the Indians. Erik Rollin pitched the other three frames in the win.

Kevin McCarty singled and doubled and Mark Hansen, Chad Rabello, Jake Schonig, Kevin Bakken and Andrew Milman added two hits each for the winners.

Nick Perrone singled and doubled and B.J. Lawler had two hits in the game for the Indians.

Bays had flipped the final three innings to get the win in the Giants' 11-6 victory over the Padres to open the week. McCarty and Trevor Campbell each doubled in the win.

Chris Cuthbert had two hits and Devin Scott cracked a run-scoring double for the Pads.

The Padres lost twice to the Cubs last week, falling 12-3 on Wednesday and 14-3 on Saturday.

Danny Politi and Jordan Senner combined to toss a one-hitter for the Cubs in the 14-3 victory. Polito tossed three no-hit, no-run innings in the win, and he also had a single, two walks and a sacrifice fly, driving in two runs and scoring three more.

Kenny Rodrigues had two hits and two walks to score three runs for the Cubs. Sean Fetke singled and doubled and Ryan Presley had two hits.

Donald Coletti had the only hit of the game for the Padres, a run-scoring single in the fourth.

The Cubs scored four runs in the first and went on from there to post a 12-3 win over the Padres earlier in the week. Politi and Senner each threw three innings in the win.

Politi led the Cubs at the plate with two hits, two walks and three runs scored. He ripped a run-scoring single in the fourth and an RBI double in the sixth.

Rodrigues had two hits and two walks, scoring four runs for the Cubbies. Fetke singled and doubled and Presley singled and scored three times.

Jerret Kasper had two hits and Cuthbert doubled for the Padres.

The A's went down to the wire to pull out a tight 2-1 win over the Rangers on Friday night.

Nick Ibarra reached on an error and, after Kyle Blair walked, ended up scoring on a passed ball to give the A's a 1-0 lead in the first.

The A's made it 2-0 in the second. Nick Gionfriddo ripped a two-out single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored when Scott Brown reached on an error.

That run would turn out to be the game winner as Jesse Barron and Wes Piper blanked the Rangers for five innings.

The Rangers finally got onto the scoreboard in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by Kyle Bergland and Eric Rude, but they came up a run short.

Los Gatos Little League major division standings (as of Saturday, May 9): Pirates 12-0, Yankees 9-3, Expos 8-4, Cubs 7-5, Marlins 6-6, Giants 5-6, A's 4-7, Indians 4-7, Padres 2-10, Rangers 1-10.

[ Back to Contents Page | Los Gatos Weekly-Times Home Page | Archives ]