No Kisses for His Honor in Williamsport

Mission Viejo Mayor William S. Craycraft walked through the crowd at Lamade Stadium before the start of Saturday’s Little League World Series championship game in Williamsport, Pa., handing out souvenir coffee mugs bearing the city symbol.

“Reaction back home has been bedlam, absolute bedlam,” he said. “Everyone is talking about it. It has been great everywhere.”

Stadium security guards were apparently unmoved by Craycraft’s civic pride, refusing to allow the mayor to enter the VIP area behind home plate to distribute the mugs. However, when a representative from Hershey, Pa., arrived moments later to hand out chocolates, the guards stepped aside.

Call it Keystone priorities.

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What’s next for South Mission Viejo Manager Jim Gattis, a former minor league third baseman and coach?

Well, he’ll return home to run his chain of MJs cafes, but said he wouldn’t turn down a coaching job at a small college near his Mission Viejo home--if one was offered.

“I don’t want to go back into the minors,” Gattis said. “I’m too high strung and it wouldn’t be good for my family. But a college job or something like that . . . I would be interested.”

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What’s in a name?

Saturday’s starting pitcher for South Mission Viejo, Gavin Fabian, was known as “Gabriel” in his Spanish class at Stoneybrooke Christian School because it was easier than finding a literal Spanish translation for his real first name.

So “Gabriel” Fabian was surprised when he discovered he would be opposed on the mound by another Gabriel, Guadalupe’s Gabriel Alvarez, not Pablo Torres, as expected, in the title game.

Alvarez hit the three-run home run to tie the score in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Adam Sorgi and Guadalupe went on to win, 5-4.

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Once again, superstition played a role in Saturday’s game, but Lady Luck didn’t come through this time for South Mission Viejo. For the second consecutive coin toss to determine home and visiting teams, South Mission Viejo won and elected be the visitors, batting first and occupying the third-base dugout.

Before Thursday’s U.S. championship game, South Mission Viejo also chose to be the visitors. It defeated Bradenton, Fla., 12-1, for the title. In fact, South Mission Viejo was the visitor in all five of its games in Williamsport, and it was only in the fifth game--the final--that the strategy didn’t pay off.

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Little League officials announced a combined crowd of 182,358 for the 15-game series in Williamsport this week, eclipsing the record 156,000 who showed up in 1995.

The total was better than officials expected. Rain on Wednesday forced cancellation of all but one game that day, forcing Little League to move two prime-time night games to early Thursday morning.

However, the loss of spectators because of the rain was more than offset by the record-setting crowd of 35,600 that watched Pottsville, Pa., play Bradenton, Fla., Tuesday night. It was the largest crowd for a non-championship game in the 51-year history of the series.

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Reaction was overwhelming to Friday’s batting contest and all-star game, the first such events held during the Little League World Series.

“We were very, very pleased,” Little League spokesman Lance Van Auken said. “It was very well received.”

Friday has traditionally been the only day of the six-day event without any games, an off-day that has been both praised and criticized over the years.

“You can only do so much shopping,” Ottawa’s Glen Bradley told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette.

Stephen Keener, 43, in his second year as Little League president, is seen as the driving force behind the changes. Keener, a former public relations director for the organization, also took over as its CEO this year.

More than 8,000 fans turned out for the all-star contest, which was made up of a maximum of seven players from each of the six teams that had been eliminated earlier in the week. Five of the players from each team had to be players with the least amount of playing time during pool play.

The players where divided into International and U.S. all-star teams, and the International team won, 2-1, in seven innings.

The team from Dyer, Ind., won the hitting contest, which consisted of players getting five swings from up to eight pitches. The further the balls went, the more points each batter accumulated, up to five for a ball hit over the fence.

Dyer scored 46 points, two more than Guadalupe. South Mission Viejo finished seventh with 39 points, four ahead of Canada.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BOX SCORE

Guadalupe, Mexico 5, South Mission Viejo 4

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South MV AB R H BI Sorgi ss-p 2 0 1 0 Gattis 3b-ss 4 0 0 0 White cf 3 1 1 0 Fabian p-3b 1 1 0 0 Moore 1b 3 1 1 1 Oates rf 3 0 1 0 Elconin c 2 0 0 0 ODovovan lf 2 0 0 0 Lucas 2b-lf 2 0 0 0 Cusick ph 1 0 1 0 Kraker lf 1 1 1 0 Totals 24 4 6 1

*--*

*--*

Guadalupe AB R H BI Torres cf-p 4 1 1 0 A. Robles rf-cf 3 0 0 0 Luna lf-1b 2 0 0 0 Garcia 3b 2 0 0 0 L. Robles c 1 1 0 0 de Dios 2b 1 1 0 0 Alvarez p-rf 1 1 1 3 Rios 1b 0 0 0 0 Baca ss 2 0 0 0 Re. Hinojosa rf 0 0 0 0 Ra. Hinojosa ph 1 0 0 0 Guajardo ph 1 0 0 0 de Isla lf 0 1 0 0 Ordonez ph-1b 1 0 0 0 Totals 19 5 2 3

*--*

South Mission Veijo 000 301--4 6 1

Guadalupe 000 014--5 2 3

One out when winning run scored.

E--Gattis, White, Oates, Garcia, L. Robles. 2B--Sorgi, White, Kraker. HR--Moore, Alvarez.

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South MV IP H R ER BB SO Fabian 5 0 3 2 4 8 Sorgi L 0 1 2 1 1 0 O’Dovovan 1/3 1 0 0 0 0

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Guadalupe IP H R ER BB SO Alvarez 3 4 3 2 2 3 Torres W 3 2 1 1 2 8

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Sorgi pitched to two batters in the sixth inning.

T--2:45. Tickets sold--37,400.