Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Yanks win two to regain second place in division

A's rally for wins, but lost tough one to Cubs

By Dick Sparrer

Monte Moore, a former broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics, used to say of the stormy A's of the early 1970s, "They don't win 'em easy, and they don't lose 'em easy."

Well, the A's of the Los Gatos Little League major division were certainly living up to that tradition last week.

The A's played three games during the week, and all three went right down to the wire.

The A's edged the Rangers 3-2, then rallied in the sixth to pull out a 5-1 win over the Cubs. But the A's lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to the Cubs to finish off the week.

Jesse Barron and Wes Piper teamed to hit and pitch the A's to the 3-2 win over the Rangers.

Barron fanned four and gave up four hits over the first three innings, and Piper allowed just three hits and struck out two over the final three frames.

The A's took the quick lead when Piper ripped a two-out double and scored on a single by Barron in the first innings.

But the Rangers answered right back in the home half of the first. Josh Miceli and Kyle Bergland each singled, and Eric Rude doubled home a run.

The A's broke the tie with two runs in the third. Greg Trobbe and Nick Ibarra each singled and Piper doubled home two runs.

The Rangers got one back in the fourth on singles by Cody Sanford, Miceli and Bergland, but the A's hung on for the 3-2 win.

Piper tossed three shutout inning and 10-year-old Danny Sullivan finished up with three strong innings to lead the A's to the 5-1 win over the Cubs a couple of days later.

The A's led 1-0 in the first after Paul Elias singled and ended up scoring on a squeeze bunt by Ibarra. Sullivan singled home a run in the fourth, but it wasn't until Scott Brown crushed a bases-loaded triple in the sixth that the A's had clinched the win.

Danny Politi singled and doubled for the Cubs and also tossed three strong innings.

Kenny Rodrigues singled and doubled, and Jordan Senner fanned three batters in the sixth to nail down a save in the Cubs' 7-6 win over the A's on Saturday.

Nick Gionfriddo crushed a bases-loaded triple in the third for the A's.

The Pirates ran their record to 13-0 with a thrilling 5-3 win over the Expos last week.

Charlie Self cracked a two-run single in the first inning to key a three run rally and help the Bucs open up a 5-0 lead in the game, but the Expos came fighting back in the sixth to make a game of it.

Matt Martini slapped a one-out single, Jack Wall reached on an error and Chris Danser walked to load the bases. Mark Helleboid doubled home two runs, and Jeff Delva followed with a single to right to knock in another.

But right fielder Danny Silva came up firing to his relay man, second sacker Andrew Silva, who fired to Logan Schafer at the plate to cut down Helleboid trying to score. Schafer shot a throw back to A. Silva at second to gun down Delva trying to advance, and the Pirates had ended the game with a very unusual doubleplay.

J.P. Grist tossed three innings of shutout baseball to get the win, striking out four and allowing just four hits. Cory Graham pitched the last three frames for the Pirates.

Grist doubled in the game for the Bucs.

The Giants beat the Rangers twice last week, winning 5-4 in seven innings on Thursday and pulling out an 8-3 victory on Saturday.

Chad Rabello doubled and scored on a single by Jeremy Bays to snap the 4-4 tie and give the Giants the first win over the Rangers.

The Rangers had taken a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth, but the Giants scored twice without benefit of a hit to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

Erik Rollin and Bays tossed three innings apiece in the game, but it was Jake Schonig picking up the win with an inning of relief work. Bays had two hits in the win.

Casey Pfiefer doubled and tripled for the Rangers, and Eric Rude had two hits.

Bays belted a two-run single in a seven-run fourth inning rally to lead the Giants to the 8-3 win over the Rangers. Schonig doubled in the game.

Rollin was the winning pitcher, firing three shutout innings to finish the game. He fanned six and allowed just two hits.

Tommy Towson had three hits in the game for the Rangers.

The Marlins and Yankees split in a pair of games last week.

Patrick McDonald gave up just two hits and struck out a pair in three innings of scoreless pitching to lead the Marlins to an 11-7 win. Brady Griffith ripped a bases- loaded tripled in the first when the Marlins rallied for seven runs. Mike Brienzo had two hits in the inning, including a double.

Steven Whitham and Travis Livingstone had two hits apiece for the Yankees, and Kyle Jensen doubled.

The Yanks picked up two runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out a 6-5 win over the Marlins on Saturday. Jason Livingstone went the distance for the pitching win, striking out 11.

The Yankees were down 5-4 in the final frame when Nathan Swartley led off the sixth with a single. He moved to second on a passed ball before Kyle Jensen walked. Swartley was forced at third on Emerson DiNapoli's infield roller, but both Jensen and DiNapoli scored when Robbie LaBouff reached on an error, and the Yanks clinched the win.

Whitham doubled in the game for the Yankees and J. Livingstone had two hits.

Matt Hirakawa had two hits and scored two runs for the Marlins.

Nick Perrone and David Holtzman of the Indians teamed up for the top pitching performance of the week in the division. The two combined for a one-hit shutout, striking out a combined 13, to lead the Tribe to a 6-0 win over the Padres.

Perrone allowed just one hit and fanned six over the first three innings, and Holtzman finished up with three innings of no-hit, no-run baseball, whiffing seven. Holtzman faced just nine batters.

Holtzman also led the bat attack with a solo homer, a run-scoring double and a single to go three-for-three. Michael Dundurs doubled in the win.

Jared Murphy had the lone hit for the Padres.

Los Gatos Little League major division standings (as of May 16)-- Pirates 13-0, Yankees 10-4, Expos 8-5, Cubs 8-5, Giants 7-6, Marlins 7-7, Indians 6-7, A's 6-8, Padres 2-12, Rangers 1-13.

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