LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL: Vista National wins section title

By Tom Shanahan - For The North County Times | Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:25 PM PDT ∞

VISTA ---- Vista National Little League volunteers spent time and money this winter fixing up the Majors diamond at Stonebrooke Fields with a re-sodded infield, new fences and re-modeled press box.

Now the Vista National All-Stars have a Section 6 championship flag and a District 70 tournament flag they won a week ago to decorate the venerable ballpark that dates to 1954. Vista National defeated Escondido American 9-2 Tuesday night to win its first section tournament title since 1994.

Next is the Division 3 tournament, with an opener against the Section 8 champion at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Los Alamos Sports Park in Murrieta.

"I think our boys are playing confident ball right now," Vista National manager Scott Houk said. "But now we're going to see some good teams that are all section champions. We might have to play some small ball. The games are going to be tighter."

Vista National, with a heavy-hitting lineup and a deep pitching staff, won its eighth straight game since losing its opener in the District 70 tournament. It worked its way back with five wins in the losers' brackets to claim the district title in the double-elimination tournament.

But Vista National needed only three games to win the Section 6 crown.

It opened with a 13-3 win over University City before twice beating Escondido American, the Di strict 31 champion. The first win was a 5-3 decision on Sunday.

"It was a good run for our team," Escondido American coach Loretta Barlow said. "I'm proud of this team."

Vista National took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and broke open the game in the fourth with four runs for a 6-0 lead.

Jason Vanjen started the inning with a double, went to third on a single by Jake Brynie and scored on a throwing error. Dominic Lerma's double scored Brynie's special pinch runner, Jon Cebrenos, and then Anthony Pallonetti walked.

The walk knocked Escondido American pitcher Jake Krantz out of the game when he exceeded the 85-pitch limit. Up until then, Krantz had thrown a three-hitter with no earned runs through three innings.

But the rally continued, as Vista National's Austin Ott followed with a single that scored Lerma and Pallonetti for the final two runs of the fourth.

Ott was also the winning pitcher. He threw four shutout innings until he got in trouble early in the fifth and Billy Roth relieved him the remainder of the way. Ott's performance followed a rare complete game by Byrnie on Sunday.

"We've got 13 boys on the team and 12 of them can pitch," Houk said. "We've got a lot to offer and we go with the one that is hot."

Lerma, who added a two-run single in the fifth, was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs. Ott was 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBIs.