Charles Rich
An excessive display of showmanship proved to be the perfect ignition
for the North San Gabriel Valley All-Star baseball team.
Behind an eight-run fifth inning, North San Gabriel Valley
recorded a 13-1 win against Northern California representative Castro
Valley in the championship game of the Pacific Southwest Regional
Tournament at Watsonville High on Wednesday.
North San Gabriel Valley (8-1) advanced to the Babe Ruth World
Series in the 16- to 19-year-old division Aug. 15-21 in Newark, Ohio.
North San Gabriel Valley will take on Newark on Aug. 15 in a National Division pool-play game at 5 p.m. PDT at the Babe Ruth National
Complex at Don Edwards Park.
Now, back to the act of showmanship.
After North San Gabriel Valley built a 3-0 lead, Castro Valley
pitcher David Eichorn (1-1) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the
fourth to snap North San Gabriel Valley's streak of 16-plus innings
without surrendering a run. Eichorn, a San Jose State University
product, stood at home plate and watched the ball sail over the
fence.
North San Gabriel Valley, which outscored its opponents, 29-2, in
four tournament contests, took umbrage to Eichorn's display. It
scored eight runs in the fifth against Eichorn to extend the lead to
11-1.
"That easily got us fired up," North San Gabriel Valley Coach Phil
Torres said. "He hit the home run, and they were still losing."
Bryan Longpre of Crescenta Valley High had a key two-run single in
the fifth to make it 5-0 for North San Gabriel Valley, which captured
Babe Ruth World Series titles in 1973, 1976, 1977 and 1979. St.
Francis High's Brian Farris got things going for North San Gabriel
Valley with a two-run double in the third to make it 3-0.
North San Gabriel Valley starting pitcher Blake Gailen, who was
named the tournament's most valuable player, picked up the win.
Gailen (2-0), who attends Glendale Community College, gave up one run
and scattered four hits in five innings.
Reliever Mark Simmons, who was named to the all-tournament squad
along with teammates Joe Billheimer, Scott Hodsdon and Dan Bonilla,
pitched two perfect innings.
North San Gabriel Valley, which lost to San Leandro, 6-5, in the
if-necessary championship game of last year's regional, also played
well defensively. Left fielder Bill Spottiswood of GCC threw out a
runner at the plate in the first inning, and Torres' team turned two
double plays.
"We are a completely different team from last year," said Torres,
who led CV to the Pacific League championship last year. "We pitched
better this year, and we won two extra-inning games as the visiting
team.
"You don't get a chance to play in the World Series often, and we
had some players give up their vacations."
North San Gabriel Valley, which has outscored its playoff
opponents by a 65-9 margin, had 14 hits.
