CMNLL still alive

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Before the final three outs, this baseball game was going down as Matt Jarmacz’s finest.

His booming solo home run in the second inning tied the do-or-die game.

His laser two-run home run in the fourth inning put Costa Mesa National Little League up by two runs.

In the fifth inning, Jarmacz made a spectacular diving catch in center field to keep the pitching staff’s no-hit bid alive.

What else could Jarmacz do against Seaview Little League in the District 62 All-Star Tournament for 11- and 12-year-olds?

In the bottom half of the sixth, Jarmacz saw his contributions almost go for nothing at LeBard Park.

Seaview broke up the no-hitter, rallying for two runs to cut the deficit to one with one out and runners on third and second.

“I was scared to death at the end,” Jarmacz said. “I didn’t think that we were going to get out of the jam. I was just shocked that we did.”

Levi Stillman wasn’t surprised how it turned out. He’s been through this before.

The closer delivered in another pressure-type situation, striking out the last two batters swinging as CMNLL held on to a 4-3 victory Monday.

Before the team jubilantly poured into the visiting dugout, Stillman looked inside the opposing one.

Due to the right-hander’s resiliency that’s where Costa Mesa will be today when it faces Huntington Valley Little League in the semifinals at 5:30 p.m.

Stillman can’t wait, neither can his teammates.

“I’m always in,” Stillman said of pitching in nail bitters. “My dad just puts me in them.”

Rob Stillman is Levi’s father, and he’s the coach. Dad’s counting on the next game being close.

The last time CMNLL played Huntington Valley, it got hammered, 12-4, in the opening round Saturday. Since then, CMNLL has had to win two straight games for another shot at Huntington Valley.

Jarmacz will be out there again. And Rob Stillman is hoping Jarmacz has another career day, this time on the mound.

Stillman said Capoccia won’t be available to go four innings like he did against Seaview, which struck out five times and never recorded a hit off the right-hander.

Jarmacz remembers how Huntington Valley hit five home runs, four of them coming with 0-2 counts, against CMNLL.

“They can hit the ball,” Jarmacz said. “We just need to pitch low and outside. That’s the pitch they can’t hit.”

Jarmacz never saw such a pitch against Seaview. He didn’t let starter Dylan Sneed throw one in their first meeting.

On the first pitch, Jarmacz blasted a shot over the left-field fence to lead off the second.

No one else managed to hit Sneed as hard, not even slugger Dante Capoccia, who actually struck out for the first time this season and also saw his string of six straight games with a home run end.

But the right-handed Sneed never figured out Jarmacz. After cleanup hitter Jake Stone led off the fourth with an infield single, Jarmacz came up next.

After the first pitch went outside, Brian Capoccia, the third base coach, told Jarmacz to go the other way to right field. Jarmacz didn’t listen.

Two pitches later, Jarmacz turned on an inside fastball and it left the park faster than he could blink.

“Just a matter of time” before he got going, Stillman said. “We got four or five of those guys that can do that.

“Finally one of them stepped up.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].