FRANKLIN LOAN CENTER GAME OF THE WEEK: La Verne-San Dimas Instant Classic Comes Down to Final Swings
After a furiously fought duel, it was San Dimas left holding the championship banner.
With one swing of the bat, the La Verne 12-year-old all stars saw the curtain come down on the season as Austin Isenhart blasted a three-run homer over the left field in the top of the sixth to propel San Dimas to a come-from-behind 11-9 win over their cross-town rivals to clinch the District 20 Little League Championship.
That Isenhart won the game with his bat was a bit strange because San Dimas was saving its pitching ace for a possible series final had La Verne won on Tuesday night. He only entered the game in the third inning as a pinch-hitter, striking out with two runners aboard, but after reentering in the top of the sixth, he didn’t miss a second golden opportunity.
It was a night for three-run homers. In the top of the first, San Dimas’ Brian Begin clubbed a three-run homer to help stake San Dimas to an early 5-0 lead over La Verne. Ironically, it was his spot in the lineup that Isenhart filled in the sixth to hit his own three-run, game-winning home run.
Austin Isenhart was the hero of the sixth inning, hitting a three-run home run and taking the hill in the bottom of the sixth to preserve the lead for San Dimas.
La Verne, in the early going, didn’t stay down for long. After scoring one run in the bottom of the first on a one-run single by Cole Sojka that had followed a pair of lead-off singles by Kurtis Redman and Nick Lodolo, La Verne scored five more runs in the bottom of the second to take a 6-5 lead. The big blast was a three-run homer off the bat of Matt Jones. Also in the inning for La Verne, Cameron Muyres had a one-run single and Brogan White had a sacrifice fly. La Verne might have scored more, but on the sac fly that scored Lodolo, who had four singles on the night, Chris “Pipes” Lopez was thrown out trying to advance from second to third.
Both teams went quietly in the third, but in the fourth inning it was La Verne scoring three more runs to take a commanding 9-5 lead. In the inning, Eric Castruita and Lodolo singled, then Lopez doubled home Castruita and White singled to drive in Lodolo and and Lopez.
Meanwhile, Lodolo was dealing on the hill. After a rocky first inning, he shut out San Dimas over the next three innings.
In the top of the fifth, Jacob Wollard took the hill and surrendered just one run, setting the stage for the fateful sixth inning with La Verne leading 9-6 and needing just three outs to force another game against San Dimas. Isenhart, however, had a different plan, sparing himself the trouble of taking the game ball on Wednesday. He was operating on a different timetable.
Matt Jones helped La Verne rally from an early deficit to take the lead in the bottom of the second, an advantage it held until the pivotal sixth inning.
But Isenhart had plenty of help, too. Matt Corona, Noah Williams and Andrew Garcia each singled and Eric Ware doubled to start the sixth inning, with Garcia and Ware each collecting RBIs to cut La Verne’s lead to 9-8. That’s when Isenhart once again entered the stage, hitting an opposite field blast that sent the San Dimas crowd into an I-told-you-so-frenzy.
Now sensing the knock-out, San Dimas put Isenhart on the mound to get the last three outs for his team. La Verne, however, didn’t make his chore easy. With two outs, Lodolo singled again. Running hard, Lopez got aboard as well via an error to put runners on first and second. Suddenly, White, a true gamer, had the chance now to give La Verne the victory with one swing of the bat.
Despite being in the hole, 0-2, White battled back and forced the count to 3-2 before Isenhart pumped in one of his best fastballs of the night, painting the outside corner, that White just missed for the final out.
“I’m so proud of our kids,” said La Verne Manager Larry Redman. “What can you say about the way we come back after being down 5-0, and what about that three-run homer by Jonesy! Then look how Lodolo shut them down after that first inning.”
La Verne was one swing away from coming back a second time, but that’s baseball. It was San Dimas’ night.
August 9th, 2010 at 1:18 pm
Thank you very much for capturing this night for San Dimas Little League and La Verne. It made for some great reading and memories.
The players have friends across the field from them and then having to playball against them is hard at times. But it’s only a game and after it’s neat to see them all interact as kids again! 🙂 Great job La Verne, a good team of players and coaches for sure! Thanks for having us. See ya out on the fields.
SDLL