Newport has few answers

Barry Faulkner

Newport Beach American Little League All-Star pitcher Matt Morris was

able to shake off the sting of a two-hop comebacker that smacked off

his lower leg to start the second inning Monday night.

Unfortunately for Morris and his teammates, however, some

first-inning fielding miscues, as well as a consistent lack of timely

hitting, proved more difficult to overcome in a 12-2 loss to Laguna

Hills in an elimination game of the District 55 tournament at Curtis

Park.

Laguna Hills scored four unearned runs in the first, courtesy of

two Newport Beach errors, to stake standout starting pitcher Robert

Retsnyder to all the lead he would need.

Newport Beach, which defeated rival Newport Beach National Little

League, 1-0, Saturday to advance in the consolation bracket, then

settled down defensively behind Morris, who stayed in the game after

being struck by the ball and pitched a solid four innings. Newport

also continued to produce base runners against Retsnyder, whose

rising fastball was often difficult for his catcher to contain.

Retsnyder also mixed in a sharp breaking ball to keep Newport hitters

off balance.

Retsnyder did battle control problems. He walked two in the first

inning, one more in the second, and surrendered back-to-back two-out

singles by Mitch Sands and Mike Freeman to bring cheers from the

spirited band of Newport supporters.

But Newport left seven runners on in the first four innings,

before Laguna Hills expanded the lead with a two-run fourth.

Up, 6-0, Laguna Hills Manager Troy Browning elected to relieve

Retsnyder and Newport responded with is best rally of the night.

Sands and Freeman, both of whom went 2 for 2 with a walk, singled

with one out, followed by a walk to Timmy Winning to load the bases.

Ryan Spritzer followed with a walk to drive in Newport’s first run

and prompt another pitching change.

The new pitcher picked up where his predecessor left off, walking

Morris to force in another run and bring the tying run to the plate.

But consecutive strikeouts ended the threat, which proved to be

Newport’s last hurrah, after Laguna Hills scored six in the fifth to

end the game on the 10-run mercy rule.

“We had some unfortunate errors in the first inning that really

determined the early completion of the game,” Newport Manager Tim

Scott said. “After they got those four runs, we held tight for a few

innings. When we’ve done well, we’ve played together, defensively, as

a team. But errors have been the difference in our [two] losses.”

Scott also lamented the lack of a key hit, as his team stranded 10

in five innings including at least one in every frame.

“We had multiple opportunities, but, unfortunately, in key

situations, we just did not get a base hit.”

Besides the pair of hits produced by Sands and Freeman, only

Morris, who doubled with one out in the third, then was stranded at

third by consecutive strikeouts, managed a hit for Newport.

Laguna Hills pitchers ended four innings with a strikeout and

finished with a combined seven Ks in the game.

Retsnyder, Jack Michelman and Shawn Tucker each had two hits for

the winners and Michelman belted a two-run home off the scoreboard

positioned high above the left-field fence to punctuate the four-run

first.

Four walks, a hit batter and three singles, the final a two-run

grounder through the left side by Michelman, fueled Laguna Hills’

six-run fifth to deny Newport Beach its final at-bat in the sixth.