Dottl’s homer wins it for Red Sox

HUNTINGTON BEACH — It was “Fire and Ice” again.

This time the ice cooled things down at the end of a sizzling finish to the District 62 Tournament of Champions championship game

With the temperature near 90 degrees, the Costa Mesa National Little League Majors Red Sox battled the heat and a late comeback attempt Saturday.

Dante Capoccia started on fire. Levi Stillman iced it. The two lived up to their nicknames.

But it was Jeff Dottl making sure the Red Sox left the scorching sun after six innings. No extra innings at Murdy Park.

Dottl blasted a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, lifting the Red Sox past the Ocean View Mets, 4-3, to claim the first Majors Division TOC title for a Costa Mesa National Little League team.

“I thought I needed to do that,” Dottl said. “I needed to at least come a little bit closer to Dante.”

Everyone who heard that comment busted up laughing. No one put up the type of numbers Capoccia did during the four-game tournament for the Red Sox (19-1).

Capoccia blasted four home runs, one in each game, drove in 13 runs, and went 10 for 13 (a .769 average). His latest home run was a three-run shot against the Mets (21-5) in the third inning to center field that banged off the snack bar.

But it was Dottl’s leadoff home run to right-center field that made the most noise and damage.

Dottl, facing a 1-1 count, went with an outside fastball. But Dottl ignored where it traveled and landed as he rounded the bases.

“I was just saying to myself, ‘Run faster! Run faster!’ ” Dottl said. “Then I heard it hit [something] and I saw the ump [near] second base motioning home run. I just kept running.”

Dottl never saw what helped deliver the game-winning homer.

His ball hit the padding on top of the outfield fence and bounced up toward the scoreboard before falling just beyond the fence.

For a moment, the scoreboard turned off. Stillman believed it had something to do with how hard Dottl smashed the ball.

But the scoreboard operator just got caught up in the drama. And there was plenty in a pitcher’s duel, pitting the Red Sox best, right-handers Capoccia and Stillman, against Tristan Chester and Brandon Ezell, the Mets No. 3 and No. 4 pitchers.

Before winning his second TOC, Red Sox Coach Rob Stillman expected to see the Mets ace, Ben Drolet, a hard-thrower just like Capoccia.

But Mets Coach Richard Lopez said Drolet wasn’t available to pitch after throwing 90 pitches in a 3-2 semifinal win against the Seaview Giants Thursday.

As for the No. 2 pitcher, Grant Peugh, he wasn’t around.

“He was in Sweden,” Lopez said. “He left last night.”

With their top two pitchers out, the Mets still proved to be a formidable opponent. They challenged the Red Sox throughout, even after Capoccia put the Red Sox ahead, 3-0, in the third.

No other team in the tournament managed to catch up to Capoccia’s fastball. The Mets managed to stay alive in their at-bats by fouling off heater after heater.

The extra work ended Capoccia’s day on the mound earlier than usual, based on the 85-pitch limit. Capoccia struck out nine batters in 4 1/3 innings, leaving after 86 pitches and giving way to Levi Stillman with the Red Sox up, 3-1.

This is when the Mets rallied.

With a runner on first in the fifth, Benji Roth, known as “Lucky Pants” for never washing his pants, doubled to right-center. Luck evidently was on the Mets’ side after the hit, as the Red Sox committed their first error in the tournament, allowing the Mets to cut the deficit to one run.

Zack Lopez tied it at 3-3 with a groundout to second base. The momentum seemed to be with the Mets.

Stillman bore down and got the next batter to foul out to Dottl near the third-base line for the third out.

After Dottl delivered in the clutch for the second straight game, Stillman came back in the sixth knowing what he had to do next.

“Levi’s been trained to close,” said Rob Stillman, Levi’s father.

Levi didn’t disappoint. He finished off the Mets 1-2-3, recording the final out with a strikeout, the same way he did when he was on the CMNLL Minor A Dodgers championship team in 2005.

“[It’s] kind of my job,” Stillman said. “I know my mom [Stacy gets] really nervous [in those] type [of situations]. She’s like covering her eyes and everything.”

At the end, mom opened them up. Levi and the Red Sox survived the heat.

Reach DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].