National captures showdown

WESTMINSTER ? In a battle for supremacy in the Costa Mesa Little League 10- and 11-year-old Division, the National All-Stars showed they were a step above the American All-Stars on Saturday.

The Costa Mesa National All-Stars exploded for four runs in the top of the first inning and never stopped swinging the bat with aplomb.

The National All-Stars never led by fewer than than three runs in their 12-5 victory over the Costa Mesa American All-Stars in the first round of the District 62 All-Star Tournament at Johnson Middle School.

The Costa Mesa National All-Stars advance to play Fountain Valley in the second round on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the same site.

A victory in that game would land the team in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

The Costa Mesa National team scored in every inning, which helped it overcome a rocky bottom of the fourth, when the Costa Mesa American All-Stars rallied for five runs.

The National All-Stars led, 8-0, when the American All-Stars took advantage of four walks, a hit batsman and two errors.

Costa Mesa American All-Star cleanup hitter Steve Gutierrez delivered a one-out single to right field. His hit skipped over the glove of the charging right fielder all the way to the fence and Gutierrez took third base on the play.

After a walk put runners on first and third, Dirk Hill Jr. hit a ground ball to pitcher Tyler Rios, who threw out Gutierrez at the plate to momentarily preserve the shutout bid.

But with two outs and the bases loaded, Costa Mesa American All-Star Cody Hanify walked to bring home a run and Aaron Aytell was hit by a pitch to bring home another.

Rios, who had thrown three scoreless innings before running into trouble in the fourth, was replaced by Levi Stillman. Rios finished with seven strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.

With the bases still loaded, Costa Mesa American All-Star Kurtis Williams walked to bring home the team’s third run, then two more runs scored on a throwing error on Riley Brown’s ground ball to cut the Costa Mesa National All-Star lead to 8-5.

The Costa Mesa National All-Stars, who had 15 hits, added a run in the fifth inning and three in the sixth to pad the lead.

“We hit the ball well today,” Costa Mesa National Manager Rob Stillman said. “Even our outs were good, strong outs.

The Costa Mesa National All-Stars set the tone in the first inning. With one out, Jeff Carlyle singled and Jesse Paz reached on an error. Rios followed with a line drive off the left-fielder’s glove and the Costa Mesa National All-Stars were off to the races.

Aaron Wood singled and scored, Jacob Stone reached on an error and scored, and Chad Fackler added an RBI single for the Costa Mesa National All-Stars, who led, 4-0.

Costa Mesa National All-Star pitchers Rios, Stillman and Paz held the Costa Mesa American All-Stars to three hits, though they issued a combined seven walks.

Rios picked up the victory on the mound.

“He pitched a good three innings,” Stillman said.

Offensively, the Costa Mesa National All-Stars were led by Wood, who went three for four with three runs. Carlyle, Stone, Paz and Jake Knapp all had two hits apiece.

“We were all hitting the ball well,” Wood said.

Gutierrez recorded two of the three hits for the Costa Mesa American All-Stars, who move to the losers’ bracket in the double-elimination tournament and play Friday at 5:30 p.m.

The Costa Mesa National team is looking forward to a possible matchup with Ocean View on Saturday.

Stillman said Ocean View was third in the state in this division last year.

“We really want to play Ocean View,” Wood said. “We played them in the Tournament of Champions [which precedes all-star play] and they beat us.”