La Crescenta sees error of its way in loss to Hamilton
Braving temperatures that soared past 100 degrees, the members of the La Crescenta Babe Ruth 14-year-old baseball team took to the field Monday to compete in the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament in Surprise, Ariz.
La Crescenta, which finished runner-up in the Southern California State Tournament, got off to a good start before several errors derailed it in an 11-1 loss to Hamilton (Ariz.) in a pool-play contest at Surprise Stadium. The game was called after six innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
“I thought we stacked up well with them, but we just made a few errors,” La Crescenta skipper Marcel Martinez said. “That’s just a little too hard to overcome, and they chipped away at us.”
La Crescenta will participate in a pair of pool-play games Tuesday at the same venue, meeting Hawaii and Nevada at 5 p.m. and 8, respectively.
La Crescenta will conclude pool-play action at noon Wednesday against Westchester, which won the Southern California title with a 7-3 win against La Crescenta on July 21 at Stengel Field.
The top two squads from each pool in the 10-team event will advance to single-elimination bracket play, which begins Thursday.
La Crescenta jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Sean Holt led off with a walk and scored two outs later on a single to center by Zander Ladd.
Arizona scored a pair of runs in its half of the first to take a 2-1 lead and never look back.
La Crescenta starting pitcher Gordon Ingebritson tossed four innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out three.
“Gordon did a great job out there,” Martinez said. “We just didn’t get the job done defensively.”
Holt had the other base hit for La Crescenta.
