Nelson’s hit plates lone run

NEWPORT BEACH ? New York Hardware shortstop Nelson Simons knew what he had to do.

Coming up in the bottom of the seventh with runners on the corners and a spot in the area Pony baseball championship game on the line, Simons knew what was at stake.

And he delivered a single to center, scoring Jacob McCann and leading New York Hardware to a 1-0 victory over Piper Jaffray in the semifinals at Ensign Intermediate on Friday.

The two teams are members of the Newport Harbor Baseball Assn. Pony division, in which teams are named for various sponsors.

“The pressure was on me; it was tough,” Simons said. “But I love having pressure on me. It was just an amazing game.”

New York Hardware, which improves to 25-0, moves on to Sunday’s championship game at noon at Eastbluff Elementary.

Piper Jaffray plays either Panda Express or the Costa Mesa Dodgers today for the second spot in the championship game.

The semifinal pitted the No. 1 seed in the tournament against the No. 15 seed, a sort of David vs. Goliath matchup. New York Hardware had outscored Piper Jaffray, 21-8, in the teams’ two regular-season meetings.

Piper Jaffray didn’t play like an underdog this time around, as starting pitcher Kyle Holgate matched New York Hardware starter McCann pitch for pitch the whole way.

“You can’t go by [the seed],” New York Hardware Manager Chris Hone said. “They’re just a quality team that had some bad breaks early in the season. We didn’t take them lightly, and Kyle Holgate pitched a great game against us.”

New York Hardware’s McCann helped his own cause when he led off the bottom of the seventh, advancing to second when his hit rolled to the center-field fence.

Jack Grace was intentionally walked. One out later, McCann stole third to set the table for Simons’ game-winner.

Both teams had chances to score earlier. Piper Jaffray left runners on second and third in the third inning, and had Austin Deyan make it to third with nobody out in the fourth.

But two strikeouts and a foul pop later, McCann was out of the jam.

“I was nervous the whole time,” McCann said. “I was just trying to get ground balls and pop-ups. But I felt strong.”

Piper Jaffray threatened again in the sixth. With one out, a single and a walk put two on base.

Deyan then hit a pop-up to the right side just past the infield dirt. The ball bounced off a New York Hardware player and fell to the ground.

The umpires ruled Deyan was out due to the infield fly rule, despite the protests of Piper Jaffray Manger Alex Deyan. Instead of bases loaded with one out, it was second and third with two outs, and a fly ball to center ? that likely would have allowed the runner from third to tag up and score ? was caught to end the inning.

Holgate had retired seven New York Hardware batters in a row before the home team rallied in the seventh.

“It was a very gritty performance,” Alex Deyan said. “He threw seven very hard innings. [The result] was unfortunate, but that’s baseball. I’m proud of him.”

New York Hardware catcher Jack Grace also helped keep his team in the game, throwing out two potential Piper Jaffray base-stealers.

“I was kind of angry, because I got picked off of first [in the fourth inning],” said Grace, who is the team’s No. 1 pitcher. “I knew that someone was going to steal, because they had gotten someone on base pretty much every inning. I just wanted to make it so no one could reach third base.”

Also delivering hits for Piper Jaffray were Richie Lowery, Angelo Angelides and Zach Porteus. Michael Salam also had a hit and made a nice catch on a deep fly ball to left field in the first inning.

For New York Hardware, Simons was two for three and Matt Bankcroft added a hit.

Simons said he thought his team would be ready Sunday, when it tries to complete an undefeated season.

“It’s going to be tough, but I think we can do it,” he said. “When we come together, we’re good.”