LITTLE LEAGUE: Escondido American doesn't miss its chance
Third-inning HR lifts squad to victory in section tourney
By TOM SHANAHAN - For the North County Times | ∞
VISTA ---- Forty-eight hours after his Escondido American Little League All-Stars advanced to the Section 6 Tournament when an opponent failed to touch home plate, Matt Thompson made sure his team wouldn't suffer the same fate.
As Escondido American's Nick Blair rounded the bases on Alberto Lopez's two-run home run in the third inning of the section tournament opener on Saturday, Thompson led his teammates out of the dugout to form a semicircle around the plate, making it impossible for Blair and Lopez to miss it.
Blair and Lopez both stomped on home plate, giving Escondido American a one-run lead en route to a 7-4 win over University City in the Section 6 tournament opener at Stonebrooke Fields.
"Everybody was yelling, 'Touch home plate!' so we made sure and stomped on it," said Thompson, the winning pitcher, who later added a three-run homer and made his own emphatic landing on home plate.
Escondido American, the District 31 champion, resumes play in the section tournament today at 2 p.m. against District 70 champion Vista National, a 13-3 winner over Allied Gardens. Vista National's win was stopped by the 10-run rule in the bottom of the fifth inning.
University City faces Allied Gardens in the elimination bracket of the four-team, double-elimination tournament today at 5 p.m.
On Thursday, Escondido American appeared to be on its way to elimination in the District 31 title game after a grand slam by Encinitas in the fifth inning. But when the Encinitas runner coming home from third base failed to touch home plate, Escondido American manager Loretta Barlow called for an appeal.
The umpires convened and ruled the runner out, preserving Escondido American's eventual 6-5 win.
"I want to say, as a mother, I feel sad for the (Encinitas) kids, but as a manager I had to protect my players," said Barlow, a veteran Little League manager who played softball at Orange Glen High and Palomar College.
Veteran Little League officials observing the section tournament said it's not unusual for an excited player to miss a base and be ruled out on appeal in Little League.
Ironically, on Lopez's home run ---- which gave Escondido American a 3-2 lead in the third ---- the University City manager appealed that Lopez missed third base. But the umpires ruled Lopez had touched the base, and his homer counted.
Vista National manager Scott Houk said that after a game last year, when a Vista National player high-fived his third-base coach on a home run trot and was ruled out for missing third base, he established a "no high-five" rule for his team on the basepaths.
In its victory, Vista National flexed its power, pounding Allied Gardens for four home runs.
Austin Ott and Jake Brynie hit two-run homers in the first inning, while Billy Roth added a two-run homer and Dominic Lerma connected for a solo shot in the second.
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escondido mom wrote on Jul 13, 2008 11:15 AM:no sportmanship here
bigger lesson wrote on Jul 13, 2008 12:03 PM:Again, the bigger lesson to the kids Ms. Barlow would have been to let it go. I find your "As a mother.....etc" comment phoney. Read the Sunday 7/13 Logan Jenkins article in the UT. It sums it up beautifully.
Little League mom wrote on Jul 15, 2008 3:08 PM:As parents it's our instinct to protect our kids. Having a son and daughter who both played the sport, (both who participated on all star teams), it's a hard lesson to learn, but it is part of the game and something the kids are taught in T-Ball.
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