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Long, Hot Saturday for Little League Teams
By Dick Sparrer
It was a long, hot Saturday at John Baggerly Field when the Los Gatos Little League major division teams turned a day of 18 scheduled innings into 22 innings under a broiling sun on May 19.
Two games went to extra innings and all three were decided by a single run when the Little Leaguers decided not to let a little thing like temperatures climbing to 100 degrees keep them from playing exciting baseball.
It all started calmly enough when the Braves edged the Red Sox 7-6 in a well-played game to open the day.
But then the Tigers went nine innings to upset to the first-place A's 9-8, and the Marlins answered that with an 12-11 win over the Giants in seven innings.
The Tigers and A's locked up in a thriller in the middle game. The Tigers ended up winning it in the ninth when Kevin Panser, aboard on a single, scored the final run when he was pushed home on a bases loaded walk to Mitchell Benedetti.
The clubs were caught up in a 5-5 tie through five innings, but the A's threatened the take the lead in the sixth. With the bags loaded and one out, Andrew Clark hit what appeared to be a run-scoring sacrifice fly to left. But left fielder Cody Kollman gunned down the runner at the plate to end the inning.
A two-run double by Kyle Blair sparked a three-run A's rally in the eighth, but the Tigers fought back, and once again Clark was the hero. Benedetti walked and raced to third on a double by Bradley Tomy. Clark ripped a two-run triple off the left field fence, then scored on a wild pitch to tie it up.
Clark had three hits in the win, and Blake Morrison and Alex Tsusaki combined to pitch the Tigers to the win.
Blair doubled twice and singled, John Gallien had three hits and scored three runs, Jackson Dallas had two hits and Steven Stege doubled for the A's.
A game later, the Marlins scored a run in the last of the seventh to beat the Giants 12-11. The clubs were tied 11-11 after the regulation six innings. Tyler Plane walked to open the seventh and Colby Moore walked. The two moved up on a passed ball, and Plane scored the game-winner on a wild pitch.
Moore singled and doubled in the win and Travis Bonner doubled.
Kiko Alonso doubled and singled twice, Teddy Fagin had two hits and Ryan Black ripped a three-run double and also singled. Will Kapp scored four runs in the game and Evan Bolton scored three.
In the first game of the day, Daniel Norvelle tossed three innings to get the win, striking out four, to lead the Braves past the Red Sox. David Cardinale doubled twice in the win and Eric McDonald singled and doubled.
Raymond Salazar struck the big offensive blow for the Red Sox with a grand slam to highlight a five-run second inning. Mark Hasson and Billy James each doubled, and Craig Olsen threw five strong innings for the Sox, fanning six.
Earlier in the week, the Sox had scored two runs in the last of the sixth to beat the Braves 5-4. Salazar tossed a complete game for the win and Kevin Fitzhenry had two hits.
McDonald, Cardinale, Norvelle and Michael Shawhan each doubled in the game for the Braves.
The A's opened the week with an 11-7 win over the Tigers. Dallas struck out six in four innings on his way to the win. Steve and Blair each doubled and singled twice, Matt Ellis singled and doubled, and Scott Werner and Brian Johnson had two hits each.
Benedetti ripped a three-run homer and Andrew Clark doubled for the Tigers.
Bolton singled and doubled, and Black cracked a two-run homer to lead the Giants to a 6-5 win over the Marlins. Justin Garza had two doubles for the Giants.
Plane tossed a complete game for the Marlins and had two hits.
Bricklin Foley struck out six over three innings and was also 3-for-3 with a double to lead the Yankees to a 7-4 win over the Cubs. Jake Jensen had two hits, Nick Smith doubled and Steve Krach singled and walked three times.
Paul Politti singled and doubled for the Cubs and Tim Sweeney had two hits.
Brian McMurry tossed a complete game and Noah Henry and Lucas deMilo had two hits each for the Indians in a 9-1 win over the Cardinals.
David Burkhart doubled for the Cards.
Earlier in the week, deMilo, Henry and Geoff Doss had two hits each and Burke tripled for the Indians in an 8-4 win over the Tigers.
Benedetti had two hits and Tomy and Clark each doubled in the loss.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
