Jul 13, 2008

Redwood City comes back 4 times to win in sectional

By Julio Lara / Daily News Correspondent

Wheew. That was close.

It was standing room only Saturday at Sequoia High School in Redwood City as fans of both Redwood City and Niles-Centerville were on the edge of their seats from pitch one all the way to the bottom of the eighth.

Redwood City National, champion of the District 52 Juniors Division, came from behind to beat Centerville 7-6 in the first round of the Little League Section 3 Juniors All-Star Tournament.

Redwood City came from behind four times, the last coming in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings. But while the victory is great, you get the sense Redwood City was more relieved than happy to come away with the win.

Late in the game, Redwood City had a couple of opportunities to end the game and didn't. Had they not benefited from a passed ball with one out in the bottom of the eighth and lost, the defeat would have lingered in their minds for a while.

"We mentally went to the movies," Redwood City manager Mark Satterlee said. "(But) we're not throwing this one back. It was a great team win."

As it stands, the game was a tribute to Redwood City's persistence and mental toughness. Their ability to come back from four different deficits is a testament to that.

An Anthony Hillerby walk started the first comeback in the bottom of the second. After a steal of second, his brother, Nicholas Hillerby, drove him in with a seed to right-center field that was good for two bases. The tie was great, but Redwood City could do nothing with a runner at second and no one out, and the inning ended with the score tied 1-1.

Things seem to fall apart for Redwood City in the third as Centerville literally stole the lead. Redwood City's inability to defend the first-and-third double steal cost them a run on two occasions in the inning. A balk brought in run No. 4 for Centerville and while the Redwood City hurler get a strikeout to get out of trouble, the host team seemed shaken.

So much for appearances.

Redwood City got all three runs back in the bottom of the third. Nicholas Gasparini's one-out single started things. He made it to second on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, the pressure was on Brian Clifford, who got an infield single to keep the rally going. Anthony Hillerby came up with a chance to make things right for Redwood City, and he did just that with a two-run single. He came around to score on an error by the catcher during the next at-bat to tie things up once again.

Centerville responded by regaining the lead in its half of the fourth on a fielder's choice. But such was the theme on Sunday, and Redwood City equalized in the bottom on the fifth on, of all things, a strikeout. With one out, a Redwood City batter struck out, but the Centerville catcher dropped strike three and the batter hustled to first. On the throw, Clifford took to the plate and safely scored Redwood City's fifth run.

Anthony Hillerby hit the pitch ceiling after recording two outs in the sixth, but with two outs Centerville rallied, getting a single and a run-scoring double courtesy of Austin Schreiber to put the visitors up by one again.

Redwood City stranded nine runners in the game, and despite all of its game-tying efforts couldn't get that one crucial two-out knock to give them the lead. The seventh inning was relief and headache wrapped in one.

Anthony Hillerby continued his offensive heroics with a one-out single. After a stolen base and walk, Tyler Booker came to the plate and got a clutch single to right, fisting one in with two strikes. A dropped pop-up by the Centerville defense looked like it would spell its demise, since it propelled Nicholas Hillerby to third with only one out.

Ryan Perkins finished a great at-bat by elevating a pitch into left field that appeared to be deep enough to score the runner from third, but the runner started trotting to the plate instead of tagging up. He had to hustle back so he wouldn't be part of a 9-5 double play.

Redwood City still had a chance, but Andrew Holm struck out to leave the bases loaded.

While it looked like Redwood City had just given the game to Centerville, to their credit, they didn't surrender any runs in the top of the eighth, allowing them to get another crack at the win.

Mr. Spotlight himself, Gasparini, approached the plate to the roar of fans chanting his name. The first baseman would not disappoint, stroking a double to get things going for Redwood City. Garrett Coe followed by getting hit by a pitch, and Clifford almost hit into a double play but beat out the back end to set things up for Anthony Hillerby.

Instead of dramatically launching one for the win, Anthony Hillerby was at the plate to watch the Centerville catcher allow a two-strike pitch to get past him, scoring Gaspirini from third and winning the game.

"I told the team, we got into this as a team, we can get ourselves out of it as a team," Satterlee said. "They had us on the ropes the entire game."