Mission Viejo Overpowers Bradenton in U.S. Final
South Mission Viejo Manager Jim Gattis took a walk between games Thursday, traversing the steep, grassy hill from Lamade Stadium to the team bunkhouse wearing a deep frown.
Gattis was worried his team was flat. He wasn’t sure Ashton White, the starting pitcher in the national championship game of the Little League World Series was mentally ready to go and he didn’t like the fact that his team would face Bradenton, Fla., after outlasting the same team opening night.
“Those guys can hit the ball,” he said.
Gattis worries too much.
South Mission Viejo piled up eight runs and 11 hits in the first three innings Thursday, putting its manager at ease and quickly turning the U.S. championship game into a rout with a 12-1, five-inning victory in front of a stunned announced crowd of 17,800.
South Mission Viejo can become the first California team to win the World Series championship since Long Beach in 1993. It will play Guadalupe, Mexico, which recorded its fourth consecutive shutout of the tournament with a 1-0 defeat of Yokohama, Japan, in the international championship game earlier in the day.
Gattis tried to put the accomplishment in perspective, saying it was special to win recognition as the best team in America, a goal he thought impossible only two months ago when the all-star team was formed.
“These kids earned it,” he said. “You either get what you deserve or you settle for what you get, and I think, tonight, these kids got what they deserved.”
South Mission Viejo’s victory over Bradenton, cut an inning short because of the 10-run mercy rule, capped a long day for both teams. A rain delay Wednesday forced both teams to play their final game in pool play earlier Thursday to decide who would advance to the national championship. Bradenton opened first with an 8-2 victory over Dyer, Ind., then South Mission Viejo completed a 3-0 victory over Pottsville, Pa.
So concerned was Gattis about playing Bradenton that soon after the victory against Pottsville, he rousted his players out of their living quarters and marched them to the batting cages in muggy 75-degree weather.
“We felt really tight in the first game and seemed to be playing tentative,” Gattis said. “We made the decision to go hit. We weren’t very pleased with our performance.”
The strategy apparently paid off. Even Gattis conceded the 15-hit barrage Thursday night was “the best we have done in some while.”
South Mission Viejo, which takes a 14-game winning streak into Saturday’s final, is peaking at the right time. Pitcher Gavin Fabian threw a one-hitter, struck out five and served up 13 ground-ball outs against Pottsville.
Against Bradenton, the right-handed White was not quite as sharp as he was in complete-game victories in the Western Regional, in which he struck out a combined 27 batters. He walked four Thursday, but his fastball was clocked as high as 74 mph and he struck out five and gave up two hits.
The soft-spoken White, son of former USC running back and Heisman Trophy winner Charles White, said he didn’t think it was his best effort but that it was good enough.
“I just tried to stay in a zone, do the basic mechanics and throw,” he said.
White hit his first home run of the series, a three-run shot to right in the second inning. That was the highlight of a four-run inning and gave South Mission Viejo a 7-1 lead.
White drove in six runs in the game and now has eight home runs in all-star play, and 13 RBIs in the series. He has reached base in 10 of his 13 official trips to the plate.
Light-hitting catcher Adam Elconin hit the first home run of his all-star career, a solo shot in the third inning over the fence in right-center. Elconin went three for three with two RBIs.
First baseman Nick Moore had three hits, including a solo homer in the three-run first, and two RBIs.
“I was looking for a fastball and I got it,” Moore said.
Adam Sorgi, one of two players being considered for the start Saturday against Guadalupe--Fabian is the other--got two hits and walked twice.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Little League World Series
Championship Game at Williamsport, Pa.
* WHO:
Guadalupe, Mexico vs. South Mission Viejo
* WHEN: 12:30 p.m., Saturday
* TV: Channel 7