THE MAYOR’S CUP:

COSTA MESA — With the sights and sounds of the Orange County Fair in the background, the Costa Mesa National Little League Majors Division All-Stars kept with the theme and gave Costa Mesa American one wild ride.

Dante Capoccia, a CMNLL all-star, had very much to do with that. He hit three home runs on three at-bats, helping lead his team to a 17-0 win and the CMNLL’s sixth Mayor’s Cup Saturday at Costa Mesa High.

“It felt pretty good [to hit three home runs] because I’ve never done that before,” Capoccia said.

The CMNLL all-stars, who reached the District 62 title game, might’ve scored more, but the game ended after four innings because of the mercy rule.

Going into the second inning, CMNLL was already up by seven runs after a first inning of walks and passed balls. But the second inning is actually where CMNLL really started putting the bat on the ball, scoring nine runs. The first batter was Capoccia, the stud lefty. Without any hesitation he took the first pitch out over the right-center fence making it 8-0.

CMALL got the next two batters to ground out and it looked like it could hold CMNLL to just one run in the frame. But with two outs and nobody on, the rally started.

Jeff Dottl got a hit up the middle to start it and was moved over to third after two clean hits by Daniel Hernandez and Dylan Reyes. The bases were loaded for Bill Crosson and he delivered with a shot past the shortstop to score a run and make it 9-0. Jackson Letterman was next up and smacked two more in to continue the rally and make it 11-0.

After a pitching change for CMALL, Capoccia came up again and had runners on first and third. With one quick swing of the bat, Capoccia put his all-star team up 14-0 with a three-run jack in almost the exact same spot as his first home run at the top of the inning.

But they were not done yet. Matt Jarmacz came up next and got a hit up the middle reaching first only to jog around the bases after the next pitch as Ryan West launched a huge home run over the left field fence to put Costa Mesa National up 16-0 to end the rally.

Capoccia came up in the fourth and added one more run to the total with his third home run of the game. He also pitched two perfect innings with five strikeouts.

While CMNLL dominated the action, CMALL pitcher Daniel Morales came away with a highlight. He retired the side in order in the third and ended up with two strikeouts on the day.

But it was CMNLL that took home the Mayor’s Cup trophy at the end of the day.

The Costa Mesa National all-stars swept the best-of-three series, just like they did last year. They won 17-4 in five innings Wednesday.

MARK RATTO may be reached at (714) 966-4616.