LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES : Offense Deserts Northridge, 4-2

Northridge, the only team from the Western Region to qualify for the World Series three times, is also the only team from the region to lose in the first round three times.

That dubious distinction was earned through a 4-2 loss to Brooklyn Center, Minn., on Monday night before 11,000. Right-hander Steve Kruger pitched a one-hitter, allowing only a home run to Northridge catcher Matt Cunningham.

However, this Northridge team has a profound advantage over its brethren from 1975 and ‘67, years when series play was single-elimination. Because of a TV-friendly pool-play format, victories against Middleboro, Mass., today at 10 a.m. PDT and against Springfield, Va., on Wednesday could vault Northridge into Thursday’s national championship game.

The two teams with the best records after pool play advance, and the winner of that game will play in the World Series championship Saturday regardless of record. As with the College World Series, TV--in this case ESPN--wants a national championship game, no strings attached.

Should there be tie records after pool play, the team that has allowed the fewest runs advances.

“We’re still in it, so we’re gonna tell all the wild people to shut up and go to bed so we get a good night’s sleep,” said Nathaniel Dunlap, the losing pitcher against Brooklyn Center despite being clocked at more than 70 m.p.h. consistently by a radar gun behind home plate.

Two wild pitches in the fourth inning by Dunlap, a 5-foot-11 right-hander, enabled Brooklyn Center (12-1) to erase a 1-0 lead that Northridge (17-1) took on Cunningham’s first inning home run. The home run was Cunningham’s third in as many at-bats--he hit two in the 10-run sixth inning against Hawaii that gave Northridge a 17-7 victory and the Western Regional championship on Friday.

Eric Tauscheck led off the fourth with a single to left field and advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a ground out to second baseman Justin Gentile. After holding at third on a bunt single by Jermar Larkins, Tauscheck scored on a wild pitch.

Brooklyn Center added three runs with two out in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. A double by Chris DeMars was followed by an RBI single by Kruger.

Tauscheck followed with a home run to left field, hitting a Dunlap fastball clocked at 71 m.p.h. Dunlap, who struck out 13 in six innings and was the only pitcher in the four games to reach 70 m.p.h, said some Brooklyn Center batters were peeking back at Cunningham’s signs.

“I guess I should throw at their heads when they do that,” Dunlap said, “but I didn’t.”

Northridge brought the winning run to the plate with two out in the bottom of the sixth, but cleanup hitter Spencer Gordon hit a slow roller to Kruger and was thrown out by a step.

Right-hander Peter Tuber, 3-0 in regional play, will start today for Northridge.

Notes

In other games, Springfield, Va., the Southern Region champion, defeated Middleboro, Mass., the Eastern Region champion, 2-1, in eight innings on a solo home run by Ethan Lare. Chinese Taipei defeated Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 4-1, behind the three-hit pitching of Hsiu-Fan Wu, and Maracaibo, Venezuela, defeated Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 5-1, on a one-hitter by Cesar Hidalgo.