Torrance Finishes 3rd at Series

Central Torrance defeated San Antonio, 10-4, to finish third at the Little League Senior Division World Series at Kissimmee, Fla., Saturday.

The team of 14- and 15-year-olds was the highest-placing U.S. team in the nine-team tournament.

“We were really pumped up for this one and I think what really helped today was we played the Texas team,” Campbell said. “That was the only U.S. team that we hadn’t played. Now we’ve met all three (U.S. teams) and we have beaten all three. So we can really say we are the U.S. champs. They even announced that (on the public address system) after the game.”

After losing games to Taiwan and the Dominican Republic to fall into the placement bracket, Central Torrance won three consecutive games. They also defeated Asbury Park, N.J. and Center Grove, Ind. Central Torrance defeated Center Grove, 10-7, on Friday to advance to the third-place game.

Central Torrance scored all the runs it needed against San Antonio with a five-run outburst in the bottom of the first inning.

Anthony Martinez’s single scored Victor Perez, who had reached base on an error, to give Central Torrance a 1-0 lead. After singles by Eric Fadeley and Oliver Turner, Johnny Knott hit a three-run double.

After a passed ball allowed Knott to advance to third, he scored on a wild pitch.

Campbell and coach Bob Grajeda said Knott’s double was the most important hit of the game.

“That was real big because if they could’ve come in and held us to one run, things may have been different,” Campbell said. “But he just jolted that ball and it one-hopped the warning track.”

Said Grajeda: “Through this whole tournament, we’ve been notorious for loading the bases and not scoring or only getting one run. But today we finally got that big hit.”

San Antonio took advantage of three Central Torrance errors in the second and third innings to score four runs. But Central Torrance answered each challenge with a run in the second and two more in the third for an 8-4 lead.

Fadeley drove in the run in the second with a two-out bunt single that scored Perez. In the third, Perez’s double drove in Johnny Thompson and Kevin Campbell.

Central Torrance added to its lead with runs in the fifth and sixth innings. That was more than enough for Fadeley, who pitched a complete game and did not allow an earned run.

“(Fadeley) basically was able to put the ball where he wanted all the time,” Grajeda said. “He made them hit his pitches.”

It was Fadeley who also pitched a complete game in the regional final against Aiea of Hawaii that earned the team a trip to Kissimmee.

“Eric is just such a strong, consistent pitcher,” Campbell said. “His ball-to-strike ratio is just so strong and he also gets a lot of ground balls.”

Campbell also gave a lot of credit to Grajeda.

“Bobby is just so close to them,” Campbell said. “They’ll do anything for him. I hate to say they’d jump off a roof for him but that’s the way they feel about him.”

Campbell and Grajeda also credited the team.

“I think that’s part of the character of this team,” Campbell said. “It would’ve been easy for them to hang their heads after the first two losses but they didn’t. They kept their confidence all along and that’s what got them this far.”