Pinto Tigers Rally Past Red Sox

Before rookie coach Wink Winkenhower hit the dugout for his first game with the Pinto Tigers back in March, he got some words of advice from Palisades Pony Baseball Association Commissioner Bob Benton. “He said, whatever you do just make sure the bottom of your order can hit,” Winkenhower confessed after Thursday’s championship game at the Palisades Recreation Center’s Field of Dreams. “Little did I know how right he’d be.” Benton’s words proved prophetic when the bottom of the Tigers’ lineup came through with four consecutive hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to spark a five-run rally that beat the Red Sox, 19-18, in one of the highest scoring games in PPBA history. “It was a total team effort,” Winkenhower said. “Every kid on the roster came up with a big hit or a big defensive play and contributed in some way. We started that inning with our 10, 11, 12 and 13 hitters coming up and every single one of them got on base.” By the time their were two outs, the Tigers had tied the score, 18-18. With runners on second and third, PJ Hurst singled to center to score Matthew Stockman with the winning run. “When the playoffs started we certainly weren’t one of the favorites,” Winkenhower said of the Tigers, who were seeded sixth out of eight teams. “We just got hot at the right time.” Momentum swung back and forth throughout the game. The Red Sox took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning before the Tigers answered with five runs in their half. The Red Sox closed to within 5-4, the Tigers built the lead to 10-4, then the Red Sox came back again to tie it 10-10 in the fourth. The Tigers went ahead, 12-10, the Red Sox scored six runs in the fifth and two more in the top of the sixth. “Our kids never gave up,” Winkenhower said. “They didn’t give up in the regular season, they didn’t give up when they lost to the same team in the playoffs and they didn’t give up when they fell behind today. This is a real resilient group.” Thursday’s game was a stark contrast to the one the day before, when the Tigers won 15-1 to force a winner-take-all second game Mustang Division The Cubs won their 10th consecutive game to capture the championship with a 6-3 victory over the Cardinals last Wednesday to give head coach Bill Elder back-to-back championships (he coached the Dodgers to victory over the Indians last year). “With 10-year-olds it runs in cycles,” Elder said of his recent good fortune. “I couldn’t be more proud of my team.” With the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth inning, Matt Douglas hit an RBI single and Reece Pascoe followed with an infield single. Two runs scored on a groundout to first base to give the Cubs two insurance runs they would end up not needing. Pascoe had a strong game, making a key catch in center field that saved a run and hitting an RBI single to score the Cubs’ first run of the game. Elder pitched the first, second, fifth and sixth innings and went three-for-three with two runs scored while Douglas pitched the middle two innings. Joseph Fasano made a diving catch in the top of the sixth inning and Tyler McMorrow stayed hot at the plate. Noah Lasky, who opted to play instead of going on a field trip to Sacramento with his fourth-grade class, also contributed to the victory along with Evan Greene, Brian Perez, Harry Baxter and Grant Sholem. The third-seeded Cubs turned a rare triple play in the third inning. With runners on first and second, a Cardinals batter hit a line drive to first baseman Daniel Sunshine, who threw to Elder at second base and then caught Elder’s alert relay back to first. “What I try to tell my batters is that if you swing, good things can happen,” said Elder, whose older sons, 16-year-old Chris (now at Loyola High) and 14-year-old Patrick (now at Corpus Christi), were both PPBA all-stars. “Just put balls in play and force the other team to make plays.” Looking to rebound from a 7-5 loss to the Cubs earlier in the playoffs, the top-seeded Cardinals got strong outings on the mound from Paul Kirkpatrick and Justin Ruder. Bronco Division Austin Kamel, Ryan Kahn and Will St. John combined to pitch a three-hitter Wednesday as the second-seeded Cardinals knocked off the top-seeded Red Sox for the second time in the postseason and earned the first championship for head coach Dave Kahn. Kamel pitched the first three innings and did not allow a hit as the National League champions jumped ahead, 4-0, on Kamel’s two-run single in the first inning and Patrick Martin’s two-run double in the fourth inning that scored Chris Groel and St. John. Clark Porter’s Red Sox answered with two runs in the top of the fourth inning to close within 5-2, then Sage Staun-Snyder hit a two-run home run over the left field fence with two outs in the fifth inning to increase the Cardinals’ lead to 7-2. “That was the big hit right there,” Kahn said of Staun-Snyder’s round-tripper. “They had gotten back into the game in the previous inning and that gave us a cushion again. I can’t say enough about our pitching.” Ryan Kahn pitched the fourth and fifth innings and St. John pitched out of a jam in the sixth inning to preserve the victory. The Red Sox loaded the bases with two outs but Chad Scully fielded Sam Ruddy’s sharp grounder down the third base line and stepped on the bag for a force out that brought an abrupt end to the action-packed game. The Cardinals, who started the season 5-5, ended the season on a 10-game winning streak. American vs. National League all-star games and the trophy presentations to the winners of each age division highlighted Saturday afternoon’s closing day festivities.