Gonzalez lifts Holmes to title game

Charles Rich

He followed the ground ball and then let out a sign of relief.

Luis Gonzalez didn’t need a relief pitcher to back him up, just an

out to carry Holmes & Holmes into the championship game.

Gonzalez got the out and tossed a two-hitter in a complete-game

effort to spark Holmes & Holmes to a 3-2 victory over the Tujunga

Yankees in the Little League District 16 Tri-Cities Major Baseball

Tournament second-chance bracket final at Babe Herman Field on

Wednesday.

Holmes & Holmes (25-6) will meet the High Temp Metals (22-6) in

the tournament’s championship game of the 11- and 12-year-old

division at 6 p.m. today at Babe Herman Field. If Holmes & Holmes

beats High Temp tonight, an if-necessary game will be played at 6

p.m. Friday at Babe Herman Field.

Holmes & Holmes, which lost to High Temp, 15-0, in the

winner’s-bracket final Monday, capitalized on two errors by the

Yankees (20-10) to build a 3-0 lead. It gave Gonzalez a cushion and

allowed him to relax. He didn’t give up a hit until Michael

McCallister singled in the fourth inning.

The Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth and

Gonzalez induced Cody Tom to tap out to short to end the game.

“I had to buckle down and pitch like I normally pitch,” Gonzalez

said. “I mixed my fastball with my change-up. On the last out, I just

hoped an infielder would get the ball. I watched it the whole way.”

Gonzalez, a right-hander, flirted with danger in the fourth, fifth

and sixth innings. He escaped a jam in the fourth inning when catcher

Eric Strangis picked off Yankees’ baserunner Justin Rivas at third.

“We wanted to play small ball and we couldn’t get the bunt down,”

Yankees Coach Gary McCallister said. “We tried to work a delayed

steal and their catcher caught a glimpse of it.”