Senior All-Stars Closer to Regional Title

ONTARIO – Pitching Sunday for the first time in four weeks, David Odle showed little rust, giving up only one run in 4-1/3 innings to lead the Manhattan Beach Senior All-Stars one step closer to defending their Little League Western Region crown.

Manhattan Beach flirted with the five-inning, 10-run mercy rule twice before settling for a 14-5 victory over tournament host Chino in front of an estimated 650 fans at historic Jay Littleton Ball Park.

MB manager Carlos Rojas says he has nine pitchers he believes can win a big game. That confidence was evident when Rojas picked Odle to start against previously undefeated Chino.

“I was a little nervous before the game,” Odle said of his first 2011 all-star start. “Who wouldn’t be?

“There were a lot of people in the stands. It was almost like playing pro ball.”

With the win, MB (4-0) swept Pool B, blasting their way into today’s single-elimination semifinals. MB plays the No. 2 team from Pool A, Northern California (2-1), at 6 p.m. Pool A winner Hawaii (3-0) meets Pool B runner-up Chino (3-1) at 3 p.m.

The tournament winner qualifies for the Little League Senior Division World Series in Bangor, Maine, Aug. 14-20.

Manhattan Beach hitters wasted no time Sunday getting into the swing of things, taking an 11-0 lead after three innings.

Trent Hammond went 2-for-3 with a double and triple. He scored a run and drove in five. Jack Hadley went 3-for-3, scored three runs and drove in two. And Turner Conrad scored three runs on a 2-for-4 night.

In the first inning, Kevin Lopez smacked a lead-off single and moved to second on Conrad’s single. MB took a 1-0 lead when Lopez moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Hammond’s RBI groundout.

MB knocked Chino starter Robert Salcedo out of the box with four runs in the second inning. With one out, Odle, Richard O’Reilly and Hadley loaded the bases with three straight singles.

Lopez drove in Odle with a sacrifice fly and Chino’s Salcedo balked in O’Reilly. Turner walked and Hammond cracked a two-run double to make the score 5-0.

Little League rules limit the number of pitches a player can throw in a day, and a formula that includes pitch count and appearances in four days also limits how often a pitcher can take the mound.

Knowing that his team had clinched a spot in the semifinals, Chino manager Henry Herrera reached deep into his lineup for pitching. T.J. Carter relieved Salcedo and struck out Garrett Wells to end the second.

But Carter, who usually plays in the outfield, couldn’t find the strike zone in the third innings when MB sent 10 to the plate. A single by Wells and a booming triple by Hammond sandwiched a hit batsman, three walks, two wild pitches and a balk, all of which made the score 11-0.

“I wanted to save my two top pitchers for (today) and Tuesday,” Herrera said. “I used position players, our little outfielder and our shortstop.I hoped they would throw strikes.”

Had the score remained 11-0, the game would have ended after five innings on the mercy rule. But Chino battled back with a run in the fourth on a walk to Michael Reina and sacrifice fly by Salcedo.

Leading 11-1, Rojas substituted freely.

With Christian Reynolds pitching for MB, Chino scored four times in the fifth on two hits, a walk, an error and a passed ball to close the score to 11-5. Nathan Virgen’s booming double was the big blow.

“It was my fault what happened in the fifth," said Rojas. “I could have let Odle finish the game. We had three guys playing out of position. But I wanted to get everyone a chance to play.”

MB’s Greg Whitaker pitched a scoreless sixth and Lopez did the same in the seventh.

MB rallied for three more runs in the sixth. And if not for two great catches by Chino outfielders, the game would have ended then on the mercy rule.

The bases were loaded when Virgen robbed Hammond of what would have been his third extra-base hit with an incredible running, over-the-shoulder catch in deep center field. And Odle, who started the game on mound, saw his bid to end the game at the plate denied by Parker Tormey’s excellent running catch in left.

“I was upset, Odle said. “I thought the game was over.”