Kris Kauppila continued to establish himself as one of the
premier players in the 11- and 12-year-old division, tossing a
two-hitter with nine strikeouts against Dyrness Automotive on Friday
night at Montrose Park to lead the High Temp Metals to an 8-0 victory
and a berth in the winner's-bracket final of the Little League
District 16 Major Baseball Tri-Cities Tournament.
Kauppila walked two and allowed singles to Garrett Salzman and
Michael Viole for Alan Eberhart's squad -- the Crescenta Valley
Little League champion -- which played Foothill League runner-up
Holmes & Holmes (24-5) on Monday night at Babe Herman Field.
High Temp (21-6) scored in five of the six innings and collected
15 hits, led by Lonnie Kauppila, Myles Neimeyer and John Salas, who
had three hits each.
Lonnie Kauppila doubled, homered and scored twice, Neimeyer
doubled and scored two runs and Salas tripled, scored and drove in a
run.
Kris Kauppila went two for four with a run scored and a run batted
in and Ryan Eberhart, Philip Moses and R.J. Sovereign all had hits
for High Temp, which has outscored its tournament opponents, 26-2.
Dyrness played again Monday night against the Tujunga
League-champion Yankees in a second-chance bracket quarterfinal game.
Holmes & Holmes 3, Frogs 2 (8 innings): In one of the most
exciting games in the tournament thus far, Dave Robbins' single to
right with nobody out in the bottom of the eighth inning scored
Johnny Evans and lifted Holmes & Holmes to the victory in Wednesday
night's winner's-bracket quarterfinal game at Montrose Park.
Evans and Jesse Meaux both walked to lead off the inning for
Holmes & Holmes (23-5) against Frog relief pitcher Oscar Aguirre
(0-1), setting the stage for Robbins, who finished with two hits and
a run scored.
Robbins also tossed the first three innings for Dave Evans' squad,
striking out eight batters, in addition to contributing to a two-run
first inning for the Foothill League representative as he, Sean
McGuinness and Eric Strangis all had hits to give Holmes & Holmes the
early lead.
The Frogs (18-3-2) rallied to tie it in the fourth as Trevor Gee
and Robert Henning hit back-to-back home runs off Holmes & Holmes
relief pitcher Luis Gonzalez.
Gonzalez settled down to scatter just one hit during his five
innings on the mound, striking out 12 batters.
Trevor Gee was strong on the mound for the Jewel City League
champion, tossing six innings of three-hit, 12-strikeout ball.
"This was the best game I've been involved in by far," Frog Coach
Randy Gee said.
