Cypress Stumbles in Opener
Greg Novy and his coaching staff tried a variety of wake-up calls the last four games for the Cypress Federal Little League all-stars’ once-potent offense, which had eked out enough runs to get to the World Series.
Novy put them through grueling practices under the broiling central Pennsylvania sun upon arriving Saturday, had them hit for more than an hour in batting cages Sunday. Monday evening, before their opener, he ran them through drills on a practice field behind Lamade Stadium, then lectured them as they knelt in the infield.
Well, Cypress finally got that wake-up call, but it was in the form of the first loss of the season.
Cypress (17-1) managed only three hits and suffered its first loss of the season, 4-2, to Toms River of New Jersey in front of an announced crowd of 15,300.
Its second victory in Williamsburg puts Toms River (20-5) into good position for a berth in the United States championship game Thursday. Cypress is by no means out of it--the top two of four teams qualify for that game--but to advance, Cypress most likely must win its last two games in round-robin play.
“I told the kids that we aren’t out of it yet,” Novy said. “Maybe this will help us. Maybe it will get us some focus so we can get going again. Obviously, I have not been happy with their play. We’ve got to get back to the way we were offensively and start scoring runs. We’ve got to improve our defense. All teams have slumps, but this is not the right time to do it.”
Starting pitcher Alex Alba wasn’t bad Monday, but without the offense that helped the team outscore its first 14 opponents, 150-23, he could only hold on so long. He struck out 10 in five innings, but surrendered a three-run home run to Gabe Gardner in the top of the fifth that erased a 2-1 Cypress lead.
“It’s very hard when we don’t score,” Alba said. “I can’t let the other team score and that’s hard to do all the time.”
Alba, a left-hander, helped his cause with an opposite-field home run in the bottom of the fourth. He was humming along until he walked pinch-hitter Eric Campesi, who advanced to third on a passed ball. Alba struck out two but intentionally walked Todd Frazier, who had five runs batted in Sunday in Toms River’s 13-9, nine-inning victory over Jenison, Mich. Scott Fisher followed with an infield single to drive in Fisher. That set the stage for Gardner.
In other games:
Greenville, N.C. 3, Jenison, Mich. 1--Tar Heel Little League opened by handing the Central Regional champion its second straight defeat in the U.S. bracket.
Langley, Canada 4, Guadalupe, Mexico 3--Jeff Duda, who played for Surrey, Canada, when it did not win a game in the 1997 series, pitched the final three innings for the British Columbia team. He did not give up a run and struck out eight in the International-bracket game. The loss dealt a severe blow to the chances of the defending champions from Mexico (0-2), who lost their opener to Kashima, Japan, 4-2, Sunday. It was Canada’s opener.
Kashima, Japan 10, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia 3--The Far East champions (2-0), bidding to become the first Japanese team since 1976 to win the title, scored seven runs in the third inning and established themselves as the front-runner in the International bracket.