Dodgers will play for title

Barry Faulkner

Through 25 games and 21 victories, the Costa Mesa National Little

League Minor B Dodgers have become more than a baseball team. They

appear to have bonded as a family, just the way Manager Kirk Stone

planned all along.

This much was evident in the communal hugs shared by players,

manager and coaches in the aftermath of Monday’s dramatic 13-10

victory over the Ocean View Little League Rangers in the semifinals

of the District 62 Tournament of Champions at the Seaview Little

League fields at LeBard Park.

But it was also visible in virtually all six action-packed

innings, as the Dodgers shrugged off booted ground balls, errant

throws, and other lapses that come from players ages 8-10, who are

still learning the game.

While frequent adversity occasionally prompted brief head hanging,

and even tears, the Dodgers stayed the course, playing the game and

the opponent, instead of the victim.

“I think it’s really, really important, especially at this level,

to work on the mental aspect of the game, even more than the

physical,” Stone said after his team advanced to Wednesday’s title

game, set for 5 p.m. at the Huntington Valley Little League fields

against an opponent to be determined. “If kids know in their head

that they can do it and people care about them, they’ll feel good

enough about themselves to perform.”

The Dodgers (21-4), performed repeatedly in clutch situations,

both offensively and defensively, to eliminate a Rangers squad that

had dominated its opposition all season.

Dodger left fielder Juan Valdez was a prominent hero early,

tomahawking a high fastball well over the 145-foot fence in left for

a third-inning grand slam to cap a six-run outburst that broke a 1-1

tie. It was his first homer of the season.

Ocean View, the designated home team, scored three in the third

and three in the fourth, both rallies aided by a pair of Dodger

errors, to tie the game and set the stage for a familiar Dodger hero.

Victor Trujillo, who had the game-winning RBI single in the bottom

of the sixth in Saturday’s 5-4 quarterfinal win, stepped to the plate

after Kannon Stone had walked to lead off the Dodger fifth. Trujillo

lifted a blast onto the residential street beyond the

right-center-field fence for a two-run homer that sparked a four-run

inning. The Dodgers never trailed again, though the Rangers rallied

to within 11-10, heading into the sixth.

Trujillo added three strong innings as the starting pitcher,

striking out five, before exiting to retain three innings of mound

eligibility for Wednesday’s championship clash.

Kannon Stone, who singled in three at-bats and scored twice, while

making one sparkling play on a ground ball to shortstop to end the

Ocean View first, came on in relief of Edwin Bisoso in the fourth. He

fanned four and surrendered just three hits in the final 2 2/3

innings to earn the victory, sprinting from the mound after striking

out the final Ocean View hitter and leaping into the arms of his

father, Kirk, who had sprung from the dugout to greet his victorious

team.

“I could see him pumping his fist on the first two strikes to that

last hitter, but I was telling him to calm down,” Kirk Stone said of

his son. “I know, in this game, you never want to celebrate early.”

The postgame celebration included awarding home run balls to

Valdez and Trujillo. Kirk Stone also doled out game balls, and

fitting praise, to second baseman Erin Curtis, Bisoso, and Kannon

Stone, who now has 3 1/3 innings of pitching left for the title game.

Curtis personified the Dodgers’ resilient attitude by beginning a

two-run rally that inflated the Dodger lead to 13-10 in the sixth.

Though crestfallen after being replaced defensively in the fifth, she

showed no signs of disappointment by the time she strode to the plate

with one out and no one on in the sixth.

With Ranger fans hooting after an inning-opening strikeout,

seemingly rejuvenated by a three-run fifth to pull within one, Curtis

beat out a soft looper in front of the plate to quiet the Ocean View

crowd.

One out later, Curtis advanced to second when Matt Carlyle reached

on an infield error. Yet another infield error opened the door for

both Curtis and Carlyle to motor home, as Stone’s hard-hit grounder

rolled under the shortstop’s glove. Carlyle, who had stolen a run

with shrewd and aggressive baserunning in the third inning, utilized

what Kirk Stone said was the best speed in the league to score all

the way from first as the throw from the outfield came slowly into

second base.

The two-run sixth helped take some pressure off the Dodgers and

the younger Stone, who retired three straight after issuing a leadoff

walk, squelching the Rangers’ final rally.

Carlyle, who made a big play at short and battled the first

three-plus innings behind the plate, went 1 for 3, stole a base and

scored twice, while Trujillo and Bisoso both went 2 for 3 to account

for half of the winners’ eight hits.

Valdez reached base in all three plate appearances, while Hans

Aderle walked twice and scored both times to aid the Dodger offense.

Nicky Roco scored a run for the Dodgers and smothered a hard-hit

grounder to second base, then threw to first for the final out of the

Ocean View fifth. Roco’s assist, as well as an assist at shortstop by

Bisoso (who also played well in the outfield) for the second out in

the fifth, were singled out by their manager as two crucial defensive

plays.

Jake Spielberger, Riley Stack and Brandon Haas, who scored once,

all walked to sustain rallies, while Brodie Pearce also contributed

for the Dodgers.