Thrice as nice for National All-Stars

Patrick Laverty

Costa Mesa National Little League All-Star Manager Kim Pederson

received more than one phone call telling him not to blow this

opportunity.

Despite numerous rallies from Costa Mesa American Little League,

Pederson didn’t.

In his last game as a Little League manager, Pederson led National

to a 9-5 victory Thursday in the decisive third game of the Mayor’s

Cup at TeWinkle Middle School, keeping the Cup in National’s

possession for the third consecutive year.

It’s the first time in the seven-year history of the Mayor’s Cup

that one league has had possession of the trophy for three straight

seasons. With the win, National also took a 4-3 all-time advantage in

Mayor’s Cup play.

“It’s a great way to end my Little League career,” Pederson said.

But the American All-Stars tried everything in their power to blow

that ending.

They forced a third game by bouncing back from an opening 11-0

defeat on Saturday with a 9-7 come-from-behind victory on Tuesday.

Trying to rally again, this time from a 9-3 deficit in the final

inning, American brought the tying run to the plate before a double

play ended the game and the series.

“They were coming back,” American Manager Phil Bagby said. “We

were just hoping for more out of our bats.”

American was limited to just five hits and three of those came in

the final inning.

Up until that point, National right-hander Nick Pederson had

turned in another dominant performance. After throwing a two-hitter

in the opening-game shutout, Pederson came back to limit American to

two hits through the first five innings.

“I think their confidence level was fine,” Bagby said.

“Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out for them. He throws enough

different pitches, it’s tough to get a grip on them.”

When American finally did put together a string of hits, it turned

out to be too late.

Trailing, 9-3, going into the sixth inning, American’s Dylon

Gravelle, Ryan Boulger and Mike Molina opened the final frame with

three consecutive singles to load the bases. American closed the gap

to five when a run scored on an error, with Chris Robinson getting

the RBI. After Ben Lounsbury was hit by a pitch to bring in another

run, American trailed 9-5 with the bases loaded and no one out.

Kim Pederson then decided to end his son’s day on the mound.

“Nick got tired and he knew it,” the elder Pederson said. “Going

into the inning it was a two hitter, but you could see he was tiring.

I wanted to give him a chance to finish it.”

But while Pederson got the win, it was Troy McClanahan who

received the save.

McClanahan came on in relief of Pederson and induced a ground ball

to third baseman Taylor West, who threw home to record the force play

for the first out. Then a second ground ball, which glanced off

McClanahan’s glove, was turned into a double play by second baseman

Frank DeNoewer. He stepped on the bag at second and threw to first

baseman Josh Ryding to end American’s hopes of a comeback.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to the American guys,” Kim

Pederson said. “They put the pressure on us by putting the ball in

play and making us make plays. I told our guys to focus on making one

out at a time.”

The National All-Stars struggled with that in Tuesday’s loss,

committing five errors in one inning, which allowed American to post

its lone victory of the series. But National made just two errors in

the entire game Thursday.

While their defense improved, their offense never relented. After

scoring 20 runs in the first two games of the series, National kept

pouring it on.

A three-run homer by Josh Ryding in the first inning helped

National overcome an early 2-0 deficit. In the third inning, National

took a 5-3 lead on a two-out, two-run double by Gavin Montague.

But the big blow came in the fifth inning, when National scored

four times, sending 10 men to the plate and collecting five hits.

Four of those hits were to the opposite field, including a two-run

double for West and an RBI single for Montague.

“We talked in the dugout, ‘[The umpire’s] calling everything on

the outside [a strike],’ ” Pederson said. “I told them to move closer

to the plate and go to right field and everyone did what I wanted.”

The runs proved fortunate with American’s late rally.

“I thought even when they started putting it together in the

bottom of the fifth, I thought we had a good chance to come back,”

Bagby said.

Molina led the American All-Stars with two hits. Gravelle and

Bougler each scored twice.