Northwood Little League Saints capture Irvine City Baseball Championship

The Northwood Little League Saints celebrate the city championship. (Photo courtesy Irvine Saints)

The Northwood Little League Saints won the Irvine City Championship Trophy on Thursday night at Hicks Canyon Park with a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Bad News Bears.

The Irvine City Championship which started last Saturday, is a double elimination tournament featuring nine teams from both Irvine Ranch and Northwood Little Leagues. The Bad News Bears who play in Northwood Little League, defeated the Irvine Ranch Golden Eagles on Tuesday to advance to the tournament finals vs. the Saints.

The Saints reached the finals of the tournament without a loss, defeating the Irvine Ranch Golden Eagles 8-7 with another extra inning walk off win on Monday night.

In Monday’s semifinal game the Saints were down 7-4 to the Golden Eagles in the fifth inning, when Jacob Harper lead off with a single to right field, followed by another single to left field by Aaron Wimbley. Back to back strikeouts by the next two Saints batters brought lead-off hitter Joseph Harper to the plate with runners on second and third base.

Harper lined a 1-1 curve ball to center field for a 3-run home run tying the game for the Saints. After a scoreless sixth inning, a one out triple by Saints batter Jack Brucker put a runner on third base and brought Jacob Harper to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Harper singled in Brucker to seal the win for the Saints and move them to the tournament finals.

Adam Avila pitched five strong innings for the Saints striking out 10 Golden Eagle batters. Yoshi Tsuge pitched two scoreless innings of relief and earned the win.

Thursday’s championship game proved to be a pitcher’s duel from the outset.

The Bad News Bears received an impressive performance from starting pitcher Paul Grossman who went six innings only surrendering two hits and striking out 16 Saints hitters. The Saints starting pitcher David Lee put together a strong performance of his own, hurling five innings and striking out 13 Bears hitters.

The scoring started in the bottom of the first when Saints lead-off man Joseph Harper doubled to left field, then stole third, and scored on a passed ball.

The Bad News Bears tied the game in the top of the fourth inning on a ground out, and the score stayed tied until the top of the seventh when the Bears took the lead after an overthrow on an attempted steal of third base drove in two runs.

The Saints started the bottom of the seventh down 3-1. After a quick out, Joseph Harper came to the plate and brought the Saints to within one run of tying the game when he scored on a single and a three base error. The Bears then intentionally walked the Saints No. 2 hitter David Lee who proceeded to steal second and third base.

The Bears then moved the inning to two outs with a strike out and intentionally walked Yoshi Tsuge to put runners on first and third base, bringing Lex Ni to the plate. Ni took an 0-1 pitch to the right side that deflected off the Bears first baseman and made its way to shallow left field, scoring Lee and Tsuge, giving the Saints the 4-3 victory.

The win brought the Northwood Little League Saints record to 19-5 on the year. This was the third championship of the season for the Saints, who also won both the Northwood Little League regular season and playoff tournament titles.

“The last two extra inning victories have illustrated how the Saints have won as a team,” said Saints Manager Jeff Harper.

“On Monday night our ninth hitter in the lineup drove in our eighth hitter to win the game. Tonight our fifth hitter drove in our second and fourth hitters for the game winner. It has been a different player all season long to step up.

“This is a great group of young men who go out and compete and play the game the right way. Win or lose we haven’t had a thrown glove or bat all season long. They’ve displayed outstanding sportsmanship and continued to work through any adversity we’ve faced. Their record is a tribute to their hard work and attitude.”  

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