A’s Take City Farm Division Championship, 10-8, After Clutch Last-Inning Rally

A mob scene broke out after the A's recorded the final out of the ball game to win the city Farm Division championship 10-8.

The Oakland A’s erupted for three runs in the top of the sixth to break a 7-7 tie and go on to defeat the Angels 10-8 at Pelota Park on Friday night to win the La Verne Little League Farm Division championship.

Parker Andersen led off the game-clinching inning with a booming double to right center field. After advancing to third, he scored on a ground out by Ethan Piras to give the A’s an 8-7 lead. After Dylan Borchert walked, Saul Manriquez singled sharply through the infield as Borchert sped around the bases to score the A’s second run of the inning. Meanwhile, Manriquez ended up on third base, taking advantage of the Angels’ mishandled relay. Manriquez would also eventually score to give the Angels a 10-7 lead.

The Angels had one last chance, but they couldn’t quite figure out Tyson Heaton’s fastball. Najee Mosley led off with a walk and Sean Jastrab singled to start a rally. Tai Mosley grounded out to first to score his brother, but then Heaton slammed the door to give the A’s the victory and the city championship.

Most of the game’s scoring came early and often. The A’s struck in the top of the first with one run after singles by Steven Vasquez and Heaton and a walk to Andersen. The Angels promptly answered with five runs in the bottom of the first, sending 10 runners to the plate. Helping their cause were five free passes issued by the A’s pitching staff. Josh Obregon led off the inning with a single, the only base-knock of the five-run inning.

Trailing 5-1 in the second, the A’s responded with five runs of their own to take a 6-5 lead. Scoring in the inning were Julian D’Angelo, Dylan Smith, Michael Ye, Gabriel Gomez and Freddie Woods.

Aided by a lead-off double from Vasquez, the A’s tacked on another run in the top of the third to go up 7-5,

The Angels, however, evened the score 7-7 in the bottom of the third. After Joe Garcia walked to lead off the inning and Najee Mosely singled, both runners scored on a ground-out by Sean Jastrab.

The scored remained tied until the fateful final inning when the A’s scored three runs, triggered by Andersen’s double and walks to Borchert, Smith and Ye.

There were several fine defensive gems turned in by both teams. In the bottom of the third, A’s third baseman Manriquez made a nice back-handed stab of a sharp grounder to step on third to end a bases loaded rally. It might have been the play of the game. In the top of the fifth, shortstop Sam Wolfe perfectly timed his leap to take away what looked like a sure hit from the A’s Skylar Luna-Reeder.

It was that kind of game. Timely hits, aggressive base running, some great defensive plays and in the end some power pitching by Heaton made for a memorable night at the ballpark.

Video hightlights to post later today. Not a subscriber yet to LaVerneOnline.com. Simply go to the home page and hit the Free Subscribe tab. Takes two seconds!