Mission Viejo Is Practically Perfect
South Mission Viejo came close Tuesday to doing what no team in 51 previous Little League World Series had done.
Three South Mission Viejo pitchers faced the minimum number of batters in a 9-0 victory over Dyer, Ind. Were it not for one mistake with one out in the sixth inning, Ashton White, Greg Sorgi and Ryan O’Donovan would have thrown the first combined perfect game in Series history.
South Mission Viejo faces Pottsville, Pa., tonight and a victory would put the Orange County team in Thursday’s U.S. championship game.
The perfect game was spoiled in the sixth inning when Dyer reserve shortstop Michael Couwenhoven lifted a blooper to short right field off O’Donovan, and it fell between second baseman Chad Lucas, center fielder Greg Oates and right fielder Matt Cusick.
The next batter, Garrett Wiejak, hit into a double play to end the game.
“I was a little discouraged by giving up that hit,” O’Donovan said. “But still, we won the game.”
South Mission Viejo (2-0) scored all of its runs in the second inning, banged out 10 hits and extended its errorless string to 17 innings.
It was the opposite story for Dyer, which had won 19 in a row before losing, 1-0, in eight innings Monday to Pottsville. Dyer has managed only four hits in the series, and the nine runs given up Tuesday were more than the team has given up in its last nine games combined.
Couwenhoven, a right-handed batter, said he was looking for a fastball all the way and that’s what he got. South Mission Viejo Manager Jim Gattis called the pitch from the dugout and he took lots of ribbing from his players afterward for the mistake. Later, when asked who would start tonight against Pottsville, Gattis did some kidding of his own.
“I think I’ll start the kid that gave up that hit today,” he said, seated within earshot of O’Donovan. “He has to atone for that.”
Tuesday, he started White, who had struck out 27 batters in his last two outings. White set down Dyer in order in the first and was no longer needed on the mound after South Mission Viejo sent 12 players to the plate in the top of the second inning.
According to Little League rules, O’Donovan and White are eligible to pitch today, because each went only one inning Tuesday. White probably will be rested, in case Mission Viejo reaches the U.S. championship game.
Sorgi, who is not eligible to pitch today, relieved White and pitched four innings on only 26 pitches, striking out five. Third baseman Gavin Fabian, the winning pitcher Monday night in a 10-6 victory over Bradenton, got the second inning started with a single off Michael Helfen, a last-second replacement for Wiejak.
Helfen, who has leukemia and will resume chemotherapy after the Series, quickly lost the zip on his pitches.
South Mission Viejo first baseman Nick Moore followed Fabian’s single by slicing a home run to right. When Bennett singled sharply to right, Helfen gave way to Wiejak. But South Mission Viejo pushed across three more runs to take a 5-0 lead and then Fabian delivered the big blow, a grand slam.
White, who moved to center field in the bottom of the second, drove in a run and had two hits.
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Schedule
(All times PDT)
TODAY’S GAMES
Guadalupe, Mexico vs. Surrey, Canada, 8 a.m.
Dyer, Ind., vs Bradenton, Fla., 11 a.m.
Yokohama, Japan vs. Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 2 p.m.
Pottsville, Pa., vs Mission Viejo, 5 p.m.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
International Championship, 2 p.m.
U.S. Championship, 5 p.m.