Baseball: Dodgers hold on for 10-9 win

Joseph Boo

MISSION VIEJO - The game ended well past their bedtimes, but the

Newport Beach Little League Triple-A Dodgers surely slept well Wednesday

night.

The Dodgers jumped out to a 9-2 lead and barely held on against the

Rancho Santa Margarita North Diamondbacks for a 10-9 District 55 Tournament of Champions victory which ended at 10:35 p.m. at Gilleran

Park.

The Diamondbacks came within 60 feet of tying the game. They had the

tying run at third base with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Diamondbacks’ Billy Palmquist hit a sharp grounder up the middle.

Dodger shortstop Danny Moskovits snagged the ball and threw to first

baseman Michael Tanzer, who reached back a couple of times with his foot

before he found the bag just before Palmquist.

With that out, the Dodgers, regular-season champs in the NBLL,

ecstatically celebrated a trip to Saturday’s quarterfinals against

Trabuco Little League’s representative.

“This was a great victory for our kids against a tough team in a game

that came down to the very last out,” Dodgers manager Van Holland said.

“We played nearly flawless defense and hit aggressively. I’m particularly

proud of how well we played as a team. Every single one of our players

contributed to this win in some way.”

The Dodgers sat on top of a 9-2 lead after their half of the fourth.

Things could have been a lot worse for the Diamondbacks, as the Dodgers

stranded nine runners in that span.

The Dodgers took a 3-0 lead in the first. Carlo Valdes singled in leadoff

hitter Eric Berkley, who scored three times. Tanzer then hit an RBI

groundout to score Moskovits and Max Canepa drove in their third run with

a ground ball.

After the Diamondbacks scored twice in the first, Dodger pitcher Kevin

Holland shut the Diamondbacks down for two more innings before he left

the game. He got help in the third from another great defensive play from

Moskovits. He caught a pop fly with one out and quickly relayed the throw

to first for the inning-ending double play.

The Dodgers added another run in the second when Tanzer induced a

bases-loaded walk to score Berkley. Holland helped himself in the fourth

with an RBI single that scored Canepa.

The Dodgers seemingly broke the game open in the fourth with two runs.

Tanzer scored on an RBI single from Sean Ryan and Joseph Rose’s groundout

brought Sean Berkley home.

Eric Berkley then hit a run-scoring double and came home on a pair of

wild pitches.

But the Diamondbacks made a game of it in their half of the fourth with

four runs to cut the lead to 9-6. In the fifth, Valdes struck out the

side in only 10 pitches to preserve the lead.

Valdes also scored what would be the winning run in the fifth, after

getting his third single of the day, stealing second and coming home on

two errors.

The Diamondbacks gave the Dodgers a giant scare in the sixth. After the

first four batters, the Diamondbacks had three runs with a runner at

third and only one out.

But Valdes forced a pair of groundouts, with Moskovits and Tanzer

memorably ending the contest.

In Sunday’s first-round game, the Dodgers defeated Laguna Hills, 10-6.

Moskovits pitched a complete game. Holland paced the offense with going 4

for 4. Tanzer and the Berkley brothers both had extra-base hits.