FRANKLIN LOAN CENTER GAME OF THE WEEK: La Verne’s 11-Year-Old All Stars Edge San Dimas 10-9
Nick Peifer led La Verne with his arm and his bat.
Trailing 9-8 in the top of the fifth, Nick Peifer blasted a one-out two run home run with Andrew Berdugo aboard to help lift La Verne to 10-9 victory over San Dimas in the exciting opening round of the District 20 Little League 11-year-old all-star playoffs at Marchant Park in San Dimas. Piefer did it on the mound as well, stranding the tying run just 60 feet away when he struck out San Dimas’s Cameron Dias to end the game.
Funny thing, Piefer wasn’t even supposed to be in the game as a pitcher. He started behind the plate. But on a day when La Verne issued seven walks in the first two innings, it was Piefer who got the call in the third inning and held San Dimas down the rest of the way.
La Verne started off the game with a four-run first inning. William Guerra, A.J. Woodall an Graydon Smith each doubled to lead the attack before La Verne handed the ball to its ace Anthony Cascarano in the bottom of the first. Cascarano, however, had difficulty finding the strike zone, and when he walked San Dimas’s Kevin Carter with the bases loaded, La Verne manager Kevin Smith brought in lefthander Woodall, who promptly struck out the side to squelch the rally.
Anthony got the assignment as La Verne's starting pitcher. Cascarano homered and doubled in the contest.
In the top of the second, La Verne tacked on two more runs, looking as if were going to cruise to an easy win. After Peifer singled to lead off the inning and Cascarano stroked a one-double, Woodall and Kenji Henderson followed with one-run singles to put La Verne up 6-2.
However, the bottom of the second played out similar to the first. Only this time, it was Woodall who was battling wildness. Before La Verne and reliever Guerra could put out the fire, San Dimas scored seven runs to take an 8-6 lead. Connor Owens got the big blast for San Dimas with a two-run homer.
Yet La Verne kept chipping away with one run in the top of the third to trail by just a run, 8-7. In the bottom of the frame, San Dimas answered with a run of its own on doubles by Justin Flood and Carter to go up, 9-7.
In the top of the fourth, Cascarano hit a solo shot to pull La Verne within a run, 9-8. Then after Peifer shut down San Dimas in the bottom of the fourth, he hit the clutch two-run shot in the fifth that turned out to be the game winner.
No one looked more relieved than manager Kevin Smith when Peifer recorded the game’s final out. Having Peifer on the mound to close the game wasn’t how he drew it up, but he was pleased to escape with the victory.
Peifer gave the whole team a lift with his two-run homer in the fifth.
“Honestly, I didn’t think the game would go the direction it did,” Smith said after the game. “I planned on using two pitchers, maybe three, and that was Anthony and A.J., and as you know, we couldn’t get through that first inning. We tried a couple guys to just kind of get between guys, and that didn’t work, and my fourth guy I was putting in was Nick Peifer, and he pulled it through.
“But my infield and outfield, there was one error by them. They (San Dimas) scored seven runs on walks. The kids did fabulous.”
Smith wasn’t worried about his big duo having an off day. “They’re awesome kids,” he said. “They’re going to come back even harder.”
Cascarano and Woodall may have struggled on the mound, but their bouts of wildness didn’t affect their hitting. Woodall had four hits and Cascarano had a pair of hits, including the big home run. Peifer and Smith also collected two hits apiece.
La Verne returns to Marchant Park on Monday to face Pomona Southwest at 5:30 p.m.
Woodall stood tall at the plate with four hits.
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