California State Games : Roundup : Helix High’s Ledford Wins Game With a Wood Bat, 7-6

Jason Ledford and his wood bats have taken some verbal abuse in the past week or so. That was OK, because nobody was chuckling Friday.

Ledford, using the required wood bats for the California State Games, went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles, a run scored and the game-winning run batted in, leading the Padres youth team to a 7-6 victory over the Cubs at San Diego State Friday.

The Padres are a team from San Diego and Orange counties with players from the 619 and 714 area codes. The Cubs are from the 209, 916 and 707 area codes.

Ledford had little trouble with Cub pitching. He hit his RBI double in the first inning as the Padres took a 4-0 lead and hung on for the win. Sean Rees of Mission Bay High was credited with the save.

And when was the last time Ledford had used a wood bat?

“When I was 8,” Ledford said. “I remember it, too.”

Ledford, who will be a senior at Helix, the San Diego Section 3-A champion, will remember this game as well.

“Last week I started using a wood bat in practice in American Legion ball,” Ledford said. “People were laughing at me.”

The Cubs rallied several times but could never quite catch the Padres, who won the first Area Code Tournament last year in Lodi. This year, the Area Code Tournament was moved to San Diego as part of the California Games.

With the Padres leading, 5-0, the Cubs’ Todd Pridy of Napa hit a home run in the second. The Cubs added two more runs in the third.

The Cubs scored a run and loaded the bases with two out in the fourth when Bryon Klemaske of Mt. Carmel High came on in relief and induced a fly-ball out.

The Padres scored twice in the top of the fifth to take a 7-4 lead.

Klemaske struck out the side in the bottom of the inning but ran into trouble in the sixth.

With two out and runners on first and second, Rees relieved Klemaske. Rees, however, gave up a run-scoring double down the first base line to Andy Fox, who was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s for the Cubs.

Rees then struck out Brian Oliver to end the inning and struck out two more in the seventh for the save.

Rees, who played for the Padres in last year’s Area Code Tournament, has pitched 3 innings with six strikeouts, including an exhibition victory over Western Australia Thursday.

“I threw him three straight fastballs,” Rees said of Fox’s double. “He was just timing them and he hit it hard.”

The Padres will play a doubleheader today at SDSU’s Smith Field. The Padres play the Brewers (818 and 805 area codes) at 4 p.m. and the Dodgers (213 area code) at 7 p.m.

In other baseball games Friday, the Brewers beat the Giants (408 and 415 area codes), 11-1. The Giants beat the Cubs, 9-8, in a late game Thursday.