A Dream Run Ends for Northridge All-Stars : Little League: The U.S. champs lose the world title to Venezuela in tense 4-3 game after three-hour rain delay.

Rocked by an earthquake seven months ago, a group of Northridge youngsters were thwarted by Mother Nature again Saturday with a rain delay and then by sizzling fastballs as their team lost the Little League World Series to Venezuela, 4-3.

The squad from Maracaibo outscored Northridge in a tense, riveting game played before 35,000 spectators and thousands of television viewers in Los Angeles who watched a live national broadcast that sent emotions reeling from anticipation to hope and, finally, disappointment.

After the game here on Saturday, as the Venezuelan players swarmed onto the field and cried for joy, Northridge catcher Matt Cunningham congratulated his opponents and looked for a silver lining.

“That team is a great team,” he said. “They played their game, we played our game, they beat us. I have to say, they won.

“We’re U.S.A. champions. . . . We’ve gone as far as we wanted to go,” said Matt, who wore his “lucky green underwear” for the game.

Greg Frost, father of center fielder Michael Frost, who struck out to end the game, said it was “time for us all to go back to our lives again. It was great fun for our kids.”

The loss took the coveted world title away from the U.S. and Southern California, which won the series in 1992 and 1993.

With superior pitching and hitting, the South American team stopped a dream run by a crew of youngsters dubbed “The Earthquake Kids.” Until their defeat Saturday, the San Fernando Valley boys--who signed up for the league just two weeks after the 6.8-magnitude January temblor--had won 20 of 21 games in five tournaments across the country.

Back in Los Angeles, spectators took the loss hard. “I feel terrible,” said Debra Gray, tears in her eyes as she sat in the Presidente Mexican Restaurant in Northridge, where scores of residents--including parents of other children in the league--crammed together to watch the game.

“But they did great. They’re the national champions. . . . There’s not enough thanks we can give to the kids for what they did for our community.”

At the 35er sports bar in Pasadena, downcast patrons filed out quickly after the defeat. “They were upset for the kids,” a bartender said.

“It’s a shame,” added Paul Hendison, a Hollywood marketing consultant who watched the game at the Legends Sports Bar in Santa Monica. “It was terrific baseball.”

The loss capped a remarkable odyssey for the Northridge team that had captured the imagination of baseball fans nationwide.

Most of the players--whose average age is 12--and their families were displaced after the Northridge earthquake. One of the boys has yet to move back into his home. But the young athletes remained committed to their sport, gathering steam and a passel of victories and admirers on the way to their field of dreams in Williamsport.

Laurels and roses have already been strewn in the paths of the players, described Saturday as “matinee idols” by one sports commentator. Local media outlets and corporations have clamored for their attention, and the city has a parade and rally planned for Monday.

Interest was particularly high in Long Beach, which fielded Little League champions for the last two years.

“We’ve had a good following for the games all week,” said Dennis Gill, manager of Yankee Doodle’s, a sports bar in Belmont Shores. “With Long Beach in it last year, we were rooting to keep it in California.”

Northridge’s victories culminated Thursday with a shutout win over a team from Virginia to capture the U.S. title.

But the Maracaibo team, also impressive in its earlier wins, was led by pitcher Cesar Hidalgo, whose fastball stymied many of the Northridge players.

“The pitcher was good. He was throwing the ball hard. He was tough to hit,” Northridge team manager Larry Baca said.

The two sides went scoreless for two innings before thunder, lightning and heavy rain--more than three inches--stopped play for three hours. Officials at Howard J. Lamade Stadium in this humid city warned spectators to move away from trees, light poles and the electronic scoreboard to avoid lightning bolts.

When play resumed, the Northridge team seemed to have lost some of its momentum. In the third and fourth innings, the boys gave up two runs as the South American squad came out strong.

But with a partisan crowd chanting, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”--including members of the three American teams Northridge defeated on its way to the final--the Earthquake Kids rumbled back, tying up the game and ratcheting up the anxiety level to hand-wringing pitch for wide-eyed boosters gathered about television sets back home.

“I knew they would come back. It’s the power of Northridge,” said 14-year-old Richard Waisberg, a past player in the Northridge Little League and a friend of many of the current young athletes.

His euphoria evaporated in the fifth inning, however, after Venezuela scored two more runs to go up 4-2. A glimmer of hope for the Northridge team shone in the bottom of the fifth when right fielder Spencer Gordon knocked out a solo home run, adding another to a collection including one that won the U.S. championship game Thursday.

But no runs were scored in the sixth and last inning by either side, leaving the decision at 4-3.

The Northridge players, dejected in their sky-blue jerseys, sat silent for a few moments. They then shook hands with their Maracaibo opponents, who earned Latin America its first World Series title since 1958.

“The truth is, the Venezuelans were just a little better tonight,” said Gregory Cassel, the father of first baseman Matt.

Across the continent, Cassel’s wife, Barbara, who was unable to journey to Williamsport for the series, glowed in the remarkable achievements of her son’s team. “It’s just the most pride you can feel as a parent,” she said at the Presidente restaurant.

In Simi Valley, Fred Seibly, a member of the Granada Hills team that won the World Series in 1963, was disappointed for the new U.S. champs but congratulated them for their long string of successes.

“They should be real proud. They have plenty of years to look back on this game and may all their memories of it be good ones,” he said.

“What those kids are going through now is going to build a lot of character. They’re going to be huge celebrities.”

Henson reported from Williamsport. Chu reported from Los Angeles. Staff writers Jeannette Regalado, Abigail Goldman, Jill Bettner and Jack Cheevers and correspondent Eric Slater contributed to this story.

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