South Mission Viejo Nearly 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 become the first group of pitchers to throw a perfect game at Lamade Stadium.

But Dyer reserve shortstop Michael Couwenhoven lifted a blooper to short right field off O’Donovan and when it fell between second baseman Chad Lucas, center fielder Greg Oates and right fielder Matt Cusick, the bid for the record fell with it.

All was not lost, though. On the next play Lucas took a hard grounder from Garrett Wiejak, tagged Couwenhoven and threw to first baseman Taylor Bennett to get Wiejak.

“I was a little discouraged by giving up that hit,” O’Donovan said. “But still, we won the game.”

It was a nearly perfect outing for South Mission Viejo, which improved to 2-0 in the tournament. The team scored all of its runs in the second inning, banged out 10 hits in all 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, Pa. Dyer has managed only four hits in the series, and the nine runs allowed 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 at 5 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 three chairs away and within earshot of O’Donovan. “He has to atone for that.”

Gattis has lots of options on the mound today, thanks to that nine-run second inning. 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.

According to Little League rules, O’Donovan and White are eligible to pitch today, because each went only one inning Tuesday. White will probably be rested, however, for Thursday’s U.S. division championship game, should the team advance.

The three pitchers threw only 57 pitches. 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 in Monday night’s victory over Bradenton, Fla., got the second inning started with a single to right-center off Michael Helfen, a last-second replacement for Wiejak.

“We were warming up and we weren’t ready to go and Michael had more zip on the ball,” Dyer Manager Vern Baker said. “There wasn’t any strategy about it. He was the one ready to go.”

The thinking backfired, Helfen said, because he 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, the original choice to start. 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.

Adam Summers, the third of five pitchers for Dyer, replaced Wiejak and got the side out, but by that time Baker said he could feel that his team didn’t have it.

“I told them to just go out there and have some fun,” Baker said. “That was all that was left for them to do at that point.”

Baker was quick to applaud the effort of Helfen, who has leukemia and will return to chemotherapy following the series.

“It’s just miraculous and incredible what this kid has gone through to get from where he was to this,” the manager said.

White, who moved to center field in the bottom of the second, drove in a run and had two hits, raising his batting average in the last three games to .727. His only out of the day was a towering fly ball that just missed clearing the left field fence and his only other out in the series came Monday on a hard liner to second base.

“Yeah, I was trying to hit that first one out,” White said. “I’ve been working on my swing. I usually just try to hit for singles.”