Cypress Runs Out of Chances

Things were looking up for the Cypress Federal League all-stars when they took a four-run lead over Greenville, N.C., after three innings in the final pool-play game at the Little League World Series on Wednesday night.

This was, after all, a team that had been struggling at the plate for the last two weeks and was fighting to remain in the tournament. For the first time in six games, Cypress players looked relaxed and composed as they took the field in the top of the fourth inning.

So much for big leads.

Greenville got three home runs in the next two innings and went on to eliminate Cypress, 6-4, in front of an announced crowd of 16,200 at Lamade Stadium.

Greenville earned a rematch with Toms River, N.J., in today’s U.S. championship game. Toms River, idle Wednesday, beat Greenville, 5-3, Tuesday. It also defeated Cypress, 4-2, on Monday, which made Wednesday’s game between Cypress (18-2, 1-2) and Greenville (16-2, 2-1) a must-win game because the two teams with the best record in pool play advance to the national final. Toms River won all three of its games.

“We’re playing all-stars and four runs is not enough against a team that hits the ball like the South does,” Cypress Manager Greg Novy said.

Cypress, which hit .141 in its three games here, managed only three hits. And its usually reliable pitching staff, which had given up only nine runs in its last five games, finally caved in.

Greenville rallied in the fourth when Cypress pitcher Alex Alba grew tired. The big blow was a three-run opposite-field home run by Greenville’s Richard Barnhill.

Cypress became only the second team (Moorpark in 1996) from Southern California since pool play began in 1992 not to advance to the U.S. Championship game.

In the international pool, Langley, Canada beat Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 9-3, to advance to today’s international championship game against Kashima, Japan.