Cardinals stay alive in second-chance bracket
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Erik Boal
TUJUNGA FIELD -- The GRC Plumbing Cardinals might have considered the
second-chance bracket of the Little League District 16 Major Baseball
Tri-Cities Championships unfamiliar territory.
After all, they weren’t used to losing often during the regular
season, posting a 20-4 record and capturing the Tujunga Little League
title.
But GRC Plumbing didn’t let that deter its focus, recording a 3-0
victory over Partyline Saturday at Tujunga Field.
The Cardinals (22-5) will play the Benchmark RV Center Angels, a 4-3
winner in seven innings over Rotary, today at 5 p.m. at Pacific Park in
Glendale.
The Angels, the third-place entry from the Tujunga Little League, lost
five of six meetings during the regular season to the Cardinals.
After falling to Trotta, 7-4, on Friday to fall into the second-chance
bracket, the Cardinals received a strong overall performance from Max
Armand to get back on track.
Armand led his 11- and 12-year-old teammates with his bat and his
right arm, going two for three with a run batted in and tossing a
three-hit shutout with seven strikeouts.
“Max took control of the game on the bases and on the mound,” said
Cardinals Coach Vince McBurney. “It was important that we jump on them
early and once we did we got their momentum down. Max made them play flat
the rest of the way.”
Armand (7-1) allowed three walks and hit a batter, and was aided by
some timely defensive support, especially in the third inning by battery
mate Nick McBurney.
With Partyline’s Nick Herbert on first and nobody out, Armand forced
Alex Sarkissian to pop out behind the plate to McBurney, who immediately
fired to first to double up the runner.
McBurney was also a catalyst on offense, scoring one of two Cardinal
runs in the bottom of the first off Partyline starter Fernando Frias.
The Cardinal catcher led off the inning with a walk and stole second
two pitches later. Armand drove him in with a single to right, and later
scored on a passed ball.
GRC Plumbing added an insurance run in the third as Michael Stanton
singled to center, advanced to third on a two-base fielding error by the
center fielder and scored on a throwing error on the relay to third.
“The guys came out swinging the bats and they played heads up today,”
said Vince McBurney. “They didn’t stop running and they took advantage of
the errors and picked up some extra bases as a result.”
Partyline (19-3-3), the regular-season champions from the Jewel City
League, could only manage two baserunners over the final three innings
against Armand, who retired the final five batters.
Frias (10-1) allowed four hits and struck out 11 batters, and was
charged with only one earned run.
Angels 4, Rotary 3 (7 innings): Jimmy Klescz scored on a passed ball
with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to lift the Benchmark
RV Center Angels to the victory in Saturday’s second-chance bracket game
at Tujunga Field.
The Angels (16-11), who rallied from a 3-2 deficit in the bottom of
the sixth, received strong efforts from Tyler Shannon and Andrew Clark.
Shannon went three for three and scored the tying run in the sixth on
Brian Butler’s double, and Clark battled fatigue in the later innings to
earn the complete-game win and improve his record to 9-3.
Clark also doubled in the seventh to move Klescz, who walked, to third
to set the stage for the game-winning run.
Trailing, 2-0, in the top of the sixth, Rotary rallied to tie the game
with run-scoring singles from Andrew De La Torre and Jin Lee, and took
the lead on David Robbins’ bases-loaded walk.
Partyline 000 000 -- 0 3 2
Cardinals 201 00x -- 3 4 0
Partyline IP R ER H BB K
Frias 5 3 1 4 2 11
Cardinals IP R ER H BB K
Armand 6 0 0 3 3 7
WP-Armand (7-1)
LP-Frias (10-1)
SB:C-McBurney, Seller