Cypress Rallies to Stay Unbeaten

On a night when it had to battle itself as much as the elements, Cypress Federal Little League still managed to stay unbeaten at the Little League Western Regional in San Bernardino.

Alex Alba hit a home run to start the fifth inning and pinch hitter Nathan Lara hit another to open the sixth to help Cypress rally for a 3-1 victory over Eastdale Little League of Albuquerque Friday night.

The announced crowd of 7,000 at Al Houghton Stadium sat through a long, close game that was delayed three times. Eastdale pitcher James Parr dominated in the early going, striking out the first seven batters he faced.

But he served up a belt-high fast ball to Alba, who hit his fourth home run in three tournament games, a 250-foot shot. And Parr didn’t fool Lara, who drove a pitch high over the left-center field fence.

Meanwhile, Cypress pitcher Matt Swims was in trouble in nearly every inning, but managed to get the outs he needed in the six-inning game.

Eastdale loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth inning without a hit, but Swims got backup catcher Zach Arneh to strike out on a disputed half-swing. Eastdale had two men on in the sixth with two out when Swims got pinch-hitter Dusty Starner to ground out.

It was a bizarre night. With Little League Baseball Inc. President and CEO Steve Keener looking on, the game started a half hour late and was in danger of being halted as it approached 11 p.m. because of a Little League curfew.

Claps of thunder and eventually lightning caused a five-minute delay with two out in the top of the second inning. Rain began in the top of the fourth inning, and another 15-minute delay occurred when paramedics had to be called to attend to Eastdale catcher Matt Quillen, who was taken from the field on a stretcher after injuring his groin.

Cypress, which plays again Tuesday at 8 p.m., was not the same team that outscored opponents 150-23 in running up a 14-0 record before Friday’s game.

It took a bad-hop single by Cypress’ Cory Campbell, two wild pitches by Parr and a passed ball by Quillen’s replacement, Arneh, to score Campbell to tie the score at 1.