CMALL Minor A baseball: Cubs end Yankees’ extended run

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - After summarily trouncing the Costa Mesa American

Little League Minor A Yankees, 12-0, in the semifinals of the District 62

Tournament of Champions Monday, the Seaview Little League Cubs could be

accused of having no appreciation of history.

This was, after all, the best postseason run in recent memory for a

CMALL Minor A (ages 9-10) entry in the annual tournament that brings

together the top teams from Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach and Fountain

Valley.

But, the Cubs, who capitalized on six Yankee errors and 15 bases on

balls to advance to Wednesday’s title game, are on a noteworthy run of

their own.

“We’ve won 22 in a row after losing our first three games,” said Cubs

Manager Jim Madden, who watched his pitching tandem of Markus Trujillo

and Jimmy Madden combine to split 10 strikeouts evenly and allow just

three Yankee hits at Costa Mesa High.

Despite the lopsided loss, Yankee Manager Phil Bagby, as well as his

players, seemed content, as well as downright proud, to have gotten this

far.

“From what I hear, and this is going back about eight years, no other

(CMALL Minor A) team has gotten to the semifinals,” Bagby said. “Our guys

have been fighters all season long and they’ve typically given good

effort all game long. I was so happy just getting to this game. The first

game (a 4-3 come-from-behind triumph over the Huntington Valley Rockies),

I was sick to my stomach. The second game (a 3-2 nail-biter over the

Costa Mesa National Dodgers), I was bound and determined just to get out

of there. But in this one, I just wanted the kids to have an experience

they could enjoy. I was a little lighter than I usually am in the

dugout.”

The Yankees, bowing out of the single-elimination tournament, finished

15-6.

Bagby’s bunch appeard sluggish from the start, giving the Cubs six

outs to score two runs in the designated visitors’ first at-bat.

With two outs, three straight errors and a looping two-run fly-ball

single to center that appeared catchable, put the Yankees in a hole from

which, this time, they couldn’t battle out of.

The Cubs plated two more runs on six walks in the second inning and

scored one in the third, three in the fourth and four in the sixth.

Costa Mesa starting pitcher Chris Gute fanned five and yielded just

two hits in his three innings. Austin Bagby followed with four strikeouts

and only two hits allowed in three innings.

But offense was the primary problem for the Yankees, who, after

mounting a first-inning threat, saw 11 straight batters retired, until

Roland Wood belted a line-drive single just over the shortstop’s glove

with one out in the fifth.

Dylan Gravelle, who also produced his team’s best defensive play,

followed with a fly-ball single just inside the left-field line. The

runners both advanced on a subsequent wild pitch, but Jimmy Madden fanned

the next two hitters to work out of the jam.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the first, when Bagby ripped a one-out

single off the center-field fence. Gute followed by reaching on an

infield error. After another strikeout, Kyle Myres walked to load the

bases, but another strikeout sent the Cubs into the dugout for a round of

high fives.

Gravelle’s web gem occurred in the sixth, when the right fielder

fielded a would-be single through the infield and threw to first baseman

Kevin Hoffman in time to get the hitter for a 9-3 groundout.

Yankees catchers Wood and Gute played aggressively all game, directing

numerous pickoff throws to first and third to try to nail runners. Wood

fielded a wild pitch off the backstop and threw to second in time to get

a runner trying to advance for the first out in the Cubs’ second.

Austin Bagby, Hoffman and second baseman Matt Mello, who reached base

on a sixth-inning walk, will represent the Yankees on the CMALL All-Star

team, which begins competition next week.

And, despite the loss, the Yankees appeared eager to convene for one

final postgame pizza party.

“It’s not like we haven’t taken a loss before,” Phil Bagby said of his

players’ unwillingness to hang their heads.