CMNLL: Costa Mesa 9-10s eliminated

HUNTINGTON BEACH - The Costa Mesa National Little League 9-10

All-Star team saw one facet of its game come to life, but saw another

area remain dormant in Tuesday’s 18-7 loss to Huntington Valley,

eliminating the locals from the District 62 Tournament.

Costa Mesa’s offense pounded out some hits and scored some runs, but

the defense had trouble at times.

“That’s baseball for you,” Manager Bob Knapp said. “This is really a

good group of kids and hopefully, all will come back for next year

because we’ve got some talent.”

That talent was displayed in spurts against Huntington Valley as Costa

Mesa managed to show a much stronger effort than during its first-round

loss to Seaview on Saturday.

“This team never quit today and that was nice to see,” Knapp said. “We

managed to hit the ball pretty well, but some early troubles put us in a

hole we couldn’t climb out of.”

That early trouble amounted to a six-run first inning for Huntington

Valley and 12 runs in the first three innings.

In that first frame, Huntington Valley took advantage of three walks,

a hit batsman, an error and a two-run double by Tim Higgins to jump out

to the big lead.

It could have been more, but third baseman Nick Oliver snagged a line

drive off the bat of Alex Barnes and alertly tagged out Huntington

Valley’s runner at third for an inning-ending double play.

Costa Mesa got one run back in the bottom of the first when Danny

O’Neil walked, went to second on a grounder by Taylor West, advanced to

third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Troy McClanahan.

After Huntington Valley tacked on two runs in the second for an 8-1

advantage, Costa Mesa showed some life.

Oliver led off with a double and Mike Morley was hit by a pitch. Frank

DeNoewer laid down a perfect bunt and after a wild throw to first, both

Oliver and Morley came around to score, cutting the lead to 8-3.

DeNoewer went to third on the play and he eventually scored on a

single by Joseph Dzida, who turned to bunt, only to pull the bat back and

rip a pitch into left field, making it 8-4.

“We managed to do some things offensively to get us back in the game,”

Knapp said. “Frank’s bunt kind of got the offense going and Joseph’s

single was very nice, too.”

That would be as close as Mesa would get all afternoon as Huntington

Valley turned four hits and another costly error into four runs and a

12-4 lead.

Costa Mesa scored another run in the third when Ryan Knapp doubled,

went to third on a grounder by Oliver and scored on a single by Morley.

In the fifth, trailing 18-5, Mesa tacked on two additional runs when

Oliver singled to center went to second on a wild pitch, advanced to

third on a grounder by Dzida and scored on the front end of a

double-steal.

Dzida, who reached on an error, stole second, went to third on a wild

pitch and scored on a wild pitch to end the scoring.

“All the credit goes to the Huntington Valley kids,” Bob Knapp said.

“They put the ball in play and they created their own opportunities. It

was nice to see our team not give up. There’s a lot of heart here.”

The loss eliminates Costa Mesa from the tournament. “My coaching staff

(Ken Kiser and Dan Oliver) really did a great job, putting up with me all

season long, so I’d like to say thanks to them, as well as all the

players and parents. It’s been a great season.”