Baseball: NBBA All-Stars fall
WHITTIER — Early on, a foul ball struck the home plate umpire in the throat. He needed time to regroup, and Shawn Miller, the Newport Beach Baseball Assn. third-base coach, walked up to the umpire, asking him where the ball hit him and if he needed a doctor because he knew of one in the stands.
The umpire shook Miller off. It was Miller’s team, not the umpire, that would need the most help.
After scoring the game’s first run in the top of the first inning, the Newport Beach Bronco 11 All-Stars couldn’t stop the bleeding. Simi Valley pounded out 14 runs in the first four innings, taking the opening game in the PONY West Zone Southern California Super Region tournament, 14-3, at York Field in Whittier on Friday.
The game only went five innings because of the 10-run rule. Newport Beach gets at least one more game in the double-elimination tournament and Miller expects his team to bounce back. Newport Beach plays again on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against the loser between Escondido and Southeast 1.
“At this level now, these are serious teams,” Miller said. “After having played basically 19 games in four weeks, we hadn’t played a game [since July 3, when we advanced out of the Central Region District]. The boys will come out tomorrow. They’ll play a lot stronger.”
Before Miller talked to his team about how it would come back and how it hasn’t lost consecutive games in the last five weeks it has been at full strength, Miller asked which of his players celebrated a birthday this week. Colin Leigh raised his hand, saying he turned 12 on Wednesday, while Conrad Olivier-Meier said he would turn 12 on Saturday.
“We’re going to celebrate [Leigh and Olivier-Meier’s birthdays] tomorrow,” Miller told his team, knowing a win would be icing on the cake.
Newport Beach has made it pretty far in its first year playing PONY. Newport Beach hopes to keep its season alive with a win Saturday, allowing it to play on Sunday.
Newport Beach got off to a solid start in its debut at the Super Region, leading things off with a single to center by Tyler Duss. He stole second base, and Luca Curci moved Duss to third base with a groundout to the right side. Dustin Miller’s groundout brought Duss home.
In the bottom of the first, Simi Valley evened things up. Ethan Peña drove in a run with a single to left field.
The first inning took a lot out of Andrew Miehe, who threw 28 pitches. The right-hander had another long inning in the second.
Aiden Speidel led off the second with a single and Austin Neff followed with a double. Isaiah Seck’s grounder to second base gave Simi Valley its first lead. The run was one of three scored by Simi Valley in the inning. Sebastian Carchi’s double in the left-center-field gap made it 4-1 Simi Valley.
Newport Beach cut into the deficit in the third inning. Starter Vinny Neilson walked Cameron Maloney to open the inning, and he eventually made it to third. Maloney scored on a two-out balk.
A couple of errors, a walk and one hit helped Newport Beach pull within 4-3. Miehe induced the walk and the left-handed hitting Nick Salmon recorded the single.
Simi Valley added to its lead in the third. The first three batters reached base, and Seck singled in a run with the bases loaded.
Newport Beach made a pitching change, bringing in Curci. He entered with the bases jammed, and the first batter he faced, Carchi, singled to left field to bring in another run.
The bases were still loaded for Peña and the No. 3 hitter smacked a two-run double to left-center field to put Simi Valley up, 8-3. Another extra-base hit toward left-center, this one a triple by Neilson, drove in two more runs and Simi Valley led, 10-3.
Simi Valley finished the third with an 11-3 advantage, too much for Newport Beach to overcome.
“Tough one,” Miller said. “There [were] a couple of good hits [by Duss, Salmon, Fisher Franczyk and Miehe]. The pitchers did not throw enough strikes. We have to throw more strikes. A couple of good defensive plays [by Miehe as a center fielder, who made a running catch in the gap in right-center in the fourth], but [it was] not one of our stronger efforts.”
