By Dick Sparrer
The Cubs are hot.
And if you don't believe, just ask the A's in the major division of the Los Gatos Little League.
The Cubs pounded the A's 20-0 in the league's postseason tournament to knock them out of the competition.
It was the 10th win in the last 12 games for the Cubs, who had opened the season with eight straight losses.
Travis Howell and Stephen Sweeney joined forces to toss a four-hit shutout in the win over the A's. Howell fanned five in three innings of work and Sweeney struck out three in three innings.
Sweeney doubled and singled twice and William Lampe and Aaron Goldfarb had three hits each in the Cubs' victory. Charlie Clarke singled and doubled, Kevin Credelle had two hits and Howell doubled.
Bret Roberts hit two for the A's.
The Cubs had opened the tournament with an exciting 6-4 win over the Padres. Howell whiffed four and Clarke fanned six as they shared pitching duties in the win.
Lampe's two-run double keyed a three-run rally in the first for the Cubs and Sweeney's two-run double sparked a three-run fourth. Lampe and Clarke finished with two hits apiece.
Bryan Schiefelbein singled and doubled for the Padres and Peter Kizska doubled.
The Padres battled back to eliminate the Yankees 14-1. Schiefelbein had three hits and Adam Crane and Darien Hirotsu each singled and doubled. Brett Cavanaugh had two hits, Evan McDonald tripled and Kizska doubled.
Bobby Galmeister and Michael Robards each doubled for the Yanks.
In other tournament action, Brian Desmarais ripped a solo homer in the sixth to snap a 6-6 tie and lift the Giants to a 7-6 win over the Expos.
Alex Rollin doubled and singled twice in the win for the Giants and Andy Betzina had three hits.
Brian Miguel had two hits and J.P. Bellotti doubled for the Expos.
The regular season champion Pirates opened play with a 12-2 win over the Marlins.
Trent Edwards starred for the Bucs in the victory. He struck out seven in three strong innings on the hill to pick up the pitching win, and he also singled and ripped a three-run homer in the fifth. Edwards knocked in five runs for the winners.
Hans Jorgensen singled twice and tripled for the Pirates and Eric Brown had three hits. Trevor Branon tossed three innings and added a pair of hits, and Drew Bothman doubled.
The Pirates had wrapped up the regular season with a tight 9-8 win over the Giants a few days earlier. Singles by Nick Russell and Trent Edwards and a bunt single by Jorgensen loaded the bags in the sixth, and Russell scored on a wild pitch to lift the Pirates to the win.
Russell had two hits in the game for the Bucs. Betzina had two hits and Brian Stanton doubled for the Giants.
The Marlins, meanwhile, had opened the playoffs with a thrilling 3-2 win over the Yankees. The Marlins trailed 2-0 heading into the sixth, but scored two to tie it and one in the seventh to win it.
David Hasson and Blake Garrett singled to put runners on the corners for the Marlins. Shane Heil knocked in a run with a fielder's choice, and he came around on three wild pitches to score the game-tying run.
An inning later, Derek Cushieri singled and scored on a two-out single by Jesse Fetke to lift the Marlins to the win.
Daniel Koch, Hasson, Garrett and Richie Brown combined to toss a no-hitter for the Marlins. Adam Davis ripped two hits in the win.
The Marlins had lost 14-5 to the A's in the final game of the regular season. Bret Roberts was the winning pitcher for the A's and also had two hits. Adam Nelson blasted a three-run homer in the third and Cameron Shutts doubled and singled twice. Derek Tam ripped a double.
Davis singled and doubled, Koch had two hits and Hasson doubled in the loss for the Marlins.
The A's opened the tournament with an 11-0 win over the Expos, then won a 6-5 thriller over the Indians.
Adam Nelson and Anthony Frangadakis teamed to toss the A's to the 6-5 win over the Indians. Nelson came through with two hits for the A's, including a two-run single that keyed a three-run rally in the fifth. Kyle Laubach had two hits for the winners.
Daniel Holtzman singled and doubled and Andrew O'Gorman and Jason Furia had two hits each for the Indians.
Frangadakis was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three runs scored and he also struck out six in three innings of work to lead the A's to the 11-0 win over the Expos. Shutts tossed the final two frames to complete the shutout, striking out three.
Nelson singled and pounded a two-run homer in the second. Laubach singled and tripled, Tam had two hits and scored three runs and John Carlson doubled in the win.
Ryan Daily had two hits for the Expos.
In another first-round game, the Rangers turned back the Giants 10-7. Jon Petersen doubled twice and James Gentry and Anthony Burks slapped doubles in the win.
Betzina doubled and tripled, Kris Zanotto tripled and Chad Rabello doubled for the Giants.
Final Los Gatos Little League regular-season major division standings: Giants 17-1, Indians 12-6, Padres 12-6, Giants 11-7, Rangers 10-8, Cubs 8-10, A's 7-11, Expos 5-13, Marlins 5-13, Yankees 2-16.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, June 5, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved