Jul 10, 2008

RWC National forces winner-take-all affair

By Greg Lydon / Daily News Correspondent

The Redwood City National Little League Seniors All-Star team had its back against the wall.

After dropping Game 1 to Redwood City American on Monday night, RC National played desperate and was rewarded for it.

Using a strong outing from Luis Flores on the mound and taking advantage of some costly RC American errors to live to play another day, RC National won 9-5 Wednesday evening at Sequoia High in Redwood City.

The RC National win means both teams will be at it again today at 5:30. The winner will take home the District 52 title and move on to the next round of competition.

RC National head coach Joe Bozzuto called Flores Tuesday night to make sure his pitcher was good to go before Game 2.

Flores had pitched six innings on Monday night, but didn't broke the 45-pitch limit, keeping him available for a Wednesday appearance.

"I called Luis to see if his arm felt OK, and to go over some changes I wanted to use in the upcoming game," Bozzuto said. "They hit his fastball all over the place on Monday so I wanted him to throw a lot of junk tonight."

Flores fired out 96 pitches on the night in 5 1/3 innings of work, giving RC American a steady diet of curveballs and change-ups to keep the aggressive lineup from jumping on the fastball.

"I told him to lay off the fastballs tonight and it really worked well for us," Bozzuto said. "Their hitters weren't keeping their front foot down on the breaking balls and that led to some easy outs for us tonight."

It didn't take long for RC National to get on the board early, jumping out to a 2-0 lead thanks to a bases-loaded single up the gut by Erik Baxter.

RC National approached every 90 feet as if it was their last, as Peter Montoya beat out an infield dribbler with a headfirst slide at first base in the second inning.

The big-time hustle play brought in teammate Peter Murphy to make the score 3-0 RC National.

"Our guys were very happy they won the first game, but they came out too relaxed tonight and it showed," RC American head coach Juan Funes Sr. said. "Our guys will need to get better rest tonight. Whoever makes fewer errors will win the game tomorrow."

The RC American bats woke up in a big way in the third inning, sending coach Funes back in time to Monday night when his team's offense had a big night.

RC American scored four runs in the third inning, including a deep shot by Rolph Mejla to center field landing just shy of the fence to score two teammates and give RC American a 4-3 lead.

RC National responded with two scores in their half of the third inning to take back the lead for good. Seb Grove dropped in an RBI single to tie the score at 4-4 in the third inning, then back-to-back RC American errors in the fourth inning gave RC National two more runs and a 7-4 lead.

"I wanted our guys to be aggressive tonight on any chance we got," Bozzuto said. "I wanted to score as many runs as possible. We took advantage of some errors tonight. Whoever plays error-free next game will win."

With the score 8-4 in the sixth inning, Bozzuto called on Nick Brown to relieve his starting pitcher.

RC American had runners on second and third with two outs, but couldn't get the big knock to pull it back into the game.

Brown fired a high fastball past the RC American hitter on a 3-2 count to get out of trouble and help his team get a key victory.

"I told my guys to move up in the box; we'll have to make that adjustment in Game 3," Funes Sr. said. "I have two of my top pitchers fresh on two days rest."

Funes Sr. will go with Michael Castillo in Game 3. Bozzuto will call on Baxter for the win-or-go-home battle.