Valley Dodgers Eliminated at Semipro Series

The Valley Dodgers reached the end of the line Thursday night, losing to the Anchorage (Alaska) Glacier Pilots, 10-8, in the National Baseball Congress World Series.

The loss eliminated the Dodgers from the semipro tournament. They finished tied for seventh in the 34-team event. Anchorage (37-16), which advanced to the quarterfinals, is the tournament’s second-seeded team and placed third in last year’s World Series.

The Dodgers rallied from a 10-3 deficit, scoring three runs in the seventh inning and two in the ninth, but the rally fell short when Todd Elliot grounded out with nobody on base to end the game.

Anchorage built an 8-1 lead, scoring four runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth as Dodger pitchers Steve Dunn, Shawn Denton and Mark Titchener were ineffective.

Dunn (2-2) took the loss.

A two-run single by Shawn Gilbert highlighted the fourth for Anchorage. In the fifth, Mark Standiford hit a two-run homer off Denton. Two more runs scored on a wild pitch by Titchener.

The Dodgers (25-10) cut the deficit to 8-3 in the fifth, Sean Collins delivering a run-scoring single and Kenny Huth getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

A two-run homer by Wes Chamberlain in the seventh increased Anchorage’s lead to 10-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Jim Vatcher was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Huth drew a bases-loaded walk and Elliot drove in a run with a single.

With his team trailing, 10-6, the Dodgers’ Perry Husband led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run, his fourth hit of the game. Valley scored its final run on Mike Solomon’s ground out.

The victory went to Steve Wapnick, a Fresno State senior from Monroe High and Moorpark College. Wapnick (8-0) picked up his second tournament victory, pitching two scoreless innings in relief of starter David Haas.

The Valley Dodgers are on offspring of the old L.A. Dodger rookies, a semipro team that was sponsored for several years by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The team became the Valley Dodgers this season, severing all ties, by mutual agreement, with the major league team--its only remaining connection are the hand-me-down uniforms worn by the semipro team.

Joining the National Baseball Congress, the major governing body for amateur baseball in this country, the Valley Dodgers set out recruiting players.

In years past, many of the Valley’s top players were forced to leave town in the summer.

“It’s a crime to think that players playing the best caliber of baseball anywhere have to go to Alaska, to Kansas or to somewhere else to play baseball in the summer,” a Valley Dodger team official said last month. “It’s ridiculous.”

With a roster of home-grown talent, the Dodgers won a qualifying tournament last month to gain a berth in the NBC World Series, becoming the first team from the Valley to qualify for the event.

They lost their tournament opener to Wichita, but then won three straight games.

By finishing among the top 10 in the 52-year-old tournament, they assured themselves of being ranked among the top 10 teams in the NBC at the start of the season next year.