Fabian Takes Up the Challenge

Young Gavin Fabian got a man-size dose of grief from South Mission Viejo Manager Jim Gattis when he returned to the dugout after the fourth inning Monday night at the 51st Little League World Series.

Warming up in the bullpen was Ashton White and Gattis made sure Fabian knew it. South Mission Viejo was clinging to a two-run lead and Gattis wasn’t happy about the three home runs Fabian had surrendered to Bradenton, Fla.

“I challenged his competitiveness,” Gattis said. “I told him it was time to compete and if he didn’t, I had someone else ready.”

It took him a few more pitches, but Fabian responded. He struck out five of the final seven batters he faced to lead South Mission Viejo to a 10-6 opening-night victory over the Southern Region champion in the United States bracket.

Mission Viejo (19-1) plays Dyer, Ind., the Central Region champion, today at 11 a.m. PDT in the round-robin, pool-play format. Bradenton will play Pottsville, Pa., at 5 p.m.

Pottsville pulled out a 1-0, eight-inning victory over Dyer in an earlier game Monday.

In the International bracket, Nuevo Leon, Mexico defeated Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 3-0, and Yokohama, Japan topped Surrey, Canada, 5-1.

The top two teams in each bracket play for their respective division titles Thursday, with the two division winners advancing to Saturday’s World Series championship game.

The South Mission Viejo all-star team won its 11th consecutive game since being formed in June, but it gave its fidgety manager all kinds of fits. Unlike many previous Southern California Region champions, Mission Viejo doesn’t have a lineup of big bombers who can routinely clear the 204-foot fences. Instead, Mission Viejo manufacturers most of its runs and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.

Mission Viejo didn’t commit an error in the field Monday, but Gattis said there were so many mental slip-ups that he spent most of his time in the dugout steaming.

At one point in the fifth inning, with White on first base, Gattis said he tried on three consecutive occasions to give a steal sign. But White never looked at Gattis. Earlier in the inning, Gattis’ son, Gary, who was on third base, hesitated on a slow roller to shortstop and was thrown out at the plate.

“Things like that we just don’t do,” Gattis said. “It’s all a matter of preparation and we haven’t worked on fundamentals since last Thursday and its time to get back to that.”

South Mission Viejo got nine singles and stole six bases. The team took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a wild pitch by Bradenton pitcher Lastings Milledge.

Bradenton responded in a big way with two outs, when third baseman Joel Cacciolone hit a hanging curveball from Fabian for a towering three-run home run just inside the left-field foul pole.

“I wasn’t pitching in rhythm,” Fabian said. “I was upset after he hit that. I got the ball up high and he banged it.”

Mission Viejo scored three runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead, but Bradenton tied the score in the bottom of the inning.

Milledge unraveled in the fourth, giving up four runs on only two Mission Viejo hits. He walked three and threw two wild pitches that led to scores.

Fabian gave up two solo homers in the fourth, but settled down after the talk from Gattis and a visit to the mound by the manager in the top of the fifth.