Yorba Hills Plays Its Way Into Semifinal

David Nicholson didn’t know at first just how big a play it would be. All he saw was the ball leaving the bat and heading high over his head into deep center field.

Nicholson raced to the Lamade Stadium wall, leaped and snagged the ball as it flew downward past

the fence.

The catch not only robbed Colin Gaynor of a two-run home run, it helped the Yorba Hills Little League team stay alive in the Little League World Series with an 8-3 victory Wednesday over the team from Toms River, N.J.

The victory set up a rematch in the U.S. championship game today at 1:30 p.m. (PDT) between Yorba Hills and Northwest 45 of Spring, Tex. Tuesday, Spring defeated Yorba Hills, 8-2.

“That play sparked our club,” Yorba Hills Manager Roy Watson said. “David is a very aggressive athlete. If he has to dive through a fence to get a ball, he’ll do it.”

Nicholson managed to hold onto the ball despite hanging by the waist over the rail of the 4-foot-high green wooden fence. He made the catch a few feet to the left of the bust of Little League pioneer Howard J. Lamade, for which the field is named.

“I saw the ball all the way,” Nicholson said. “I wasn’t worried about it.”

The catch quieted Toms River after Yorba Hills led, 4-0, on two-run home runs by Robert Nesbitt and pitcher Matt Campbell.

In the third, Toms River scored on two walks, a stolen base and a fielder’s choice and had a man on first with two out when Gaynor stepped to the plate.

He didn’t get all of a Campbell fastball, hitting it off the end of the bat, but the ball got up in a prevailing wind.

After the catch, it looked as if Nicholson might topple over the fence with the ball still in his glove. But he recovered, stood up and held the ball high over his head. He trotted toward the dugout and was mobbed by his teammates.

“That was a great catch,” Toms River Coach Mike Gaynor said. “A thing like that can change the tide of a ballgame. It hurt us. It would’ve picked up any team.”

Campbell, who never pitched before this season, lasted 3 2/3 innings and struck out four. Patrick Rooney replaced him in the bottom of the fourth after Campbell gave up a two-out double to Andrew Diaz. But Rooney struck out Jeremy Dandorph. He finished by striking out four of the final eight batters he faced.

“They bring me in when there is trouble and I just throw strikes,” Rooney said. “I let the defense get the outs.”

Rooney, hitting .417 in the series, led off the top of the fourth with a homer and drove in another run with a double in the sixth.

After the game, all thoughts quickly turned to the rematch with Spring. Yorba Hills players say the Spring players rubbed in the fact that they beat them.

“As long as our defense is there, we’ll beat them,” said Nash Robertson, who scored two runs Wednesday to raise his on-base percentage in the series to .667. Robertson’s 13th birthday is today and he said he would like nothing more than a victory to celebrate.

Yorba Hills is 18-2. Toms River ended its season 21-5.

Texas rested several starters Wednesday, got only three hits and lost to Little Lakes West, 12-2. The game ended after five innings because of the 10-run lead rule, which was instituted by Little League this year. Yorba Hills opened the series with a 17-5 victory over the Minnesota team.

In the International bracket, Taiwan ran its record to 12-0 with a 12-2 victory in four innings over Toronto (14-5). The Taiwanese hit five home runs, three by Chih Hsiang Lin. That tied a 27-year-old record for most in a game. The Dominican Republic (13-3) beat Saudi Arabia (8-3), 11-1, in six innings.

The U.S. champion plays the winner of today’s 10:30 a.m. game between Taiwan and the Dominican Republic in the World Series final at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.