Cardinals Are Champs!
In a tense extra inning contest, the National League Cardinals beat the American League Indians 7 to 6 to win the Santa Monica Little League Championship on June 7th at Memorial Park.
Both teams had struggled to reach the big game. The Indians, led by manager Matt Steinhaus, had played in the championship game last year and lost to the Giants. This year they finished in the standings behind the Mariners and the Angels, but fought their way through the playoffs to the final game of the season. The Cardinals had posted a record of 3 and 13 in 2007. New coaches Steve Miller and Scott Stahler took them from worst to first in 2008, with a surprise 12 and 4 season.
The Cardinals started the game off quickly when their starting catcher, Daniel Burschinger, led off the game with a home run. But Indians pitcher River Moore settled down to give up no more runs until the third inning, with help from brilliant defensive plays by Chris Tenn in left field and Taylor Mackall at shortstop. Cardinals pitcher Eli Bieber was in and out of trouble in the first two innings, but let nothing across. In the third inning, the Cardinals got hot. Burschinger led off with a single, Tom Fuller was on with an error that saw Burschinger score and Fuller wind up on third. Jules Stahler hit a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring Fuller, then
Evan Miller singled, Gary Dixon walked, Eli Bieber doubled, Dakota Schey doubled, and by the time JJ Dunn walked, the bases were loaded with two outs and four runs had crossed the plate. The Indians brought in Kenny Norton to face Burschinger, who flied out for the third out, but the Cardinals had taken a big 5 to 0 lead.
The Indians responded in the bottom of the third. Moore’s lead off single was followed by Taylor Mackall’s single and Nico Basile’s double. Back to back errors by Cardinal shortstop Tom Fuller, playing with a 102 degree fever, led to a couple of unearned runs, but the inning came to a sudden end when, after a passed ball, Kenny Norton was caught stealing home. Cardinals 5, Indians 4.
Fuller helped redeem himself by leading off with a hard hit single, stole his way to third and was brought home by Harrison Baum’s infield out. But with the score now 6 to 4, the Indians started hitting, putting together a two-out rally. Mark Fuller, Tom’s twin brother, came in to close out the inning, but the damage had been done and the score was tied, 6 to 6.
And so it would remain for four straight scoreless innings. Kenny Norton pitched brilliantly to keep the Cardinals down, and Evan Miller gave a magnificent performance on the mound to stop the Indians cold. Lowell Schipper made a brilliant, diving catch in right field in the bottom of the seventh to save the Cardinals.
By the top of the eighth inning, it was clear that Norton was tired. He had thrown over 70 pitches, but he was still in there, still battling. Stahler singled, Baum walked, Miller walked, and the Cardinals had the bases loaded with nobody out. After a long at-bat, Schipper popped up to first base. The Indians brought in Cole Holland to pitch to Gary Dixon, and Holland was terrific, getting Dixon out. Schey came to the plate, and showed great patience, walking on four straight pitches to bring home the lead run. But Holland finished off the last Cardinal batter.
In the bottom of the eighth, Miller went to work, getting their first two hitters, on a line drive to JJ Dunn at second and a grounder to Baum at first. But the Indians’ Kostas Garcia doubled off the fence and the pressure was on. With the game on the line, Miller struck out their last batter and the Cardinals had won the championship.
