Little League: Monschein helps North stop East, win Seniors district title
Steve Byrne | The Chronicle-Telegram
ELYRIA — Todd Brubaker will be filling out paperwork for a visit to the Little League Seniors state tournament “for the first time in at least 15 years.”
It’s been awhile since the North All-Stars won a District 3 title, but with Anthony Monschein shackling the East batters on four hits and North’s hitters pounding out 15 of their own, the North team downed the East All-Stars 14-4 in five innings Tuesday at North Park.
The game was quite a switch from the one North and East played between Sunday and Monday, one in which North prevailed 25-24. North broke open a close game Tuesday with four runs in the fourth inning and five in the fifth. East scored all its runs in the second to tie the score at 4.
“Four hits was disappointing, especially after yesterday and outhitting them, 22-13,” East manager Mark Runser said. “Their kid pitched a great game. Monschein kept the ball low and looked like he was in total control. We didn’t seem like we were ready to hit.”
Monschein allowed only singles, walked two, struck out three and retired eight in a row at one point.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” North manager Todd Brubaker said, “and Anthony’s effort was one of the best-pitched games at this level I have ever seen. He did a great job of keeping the ball down and keeping hitters off balance.
“We made a couple of mental errors, that’s going to happen,” Brubaker said. “But the focus and the energy were there, even from the guys on the bench. Everyone was pumped up for this and did their parts to help us win.”
North will begin state tournament play against the winner of the District 8 tournament Saturday, 11 a.m., in Englewood.
The hitting stars for North were many. Andy Bruck had four of the team’s seven runs batted in. Justin Murray barely missed a home run, but settled for a triple on a ball that hit off the top of the left-field fence and fell on the front side. Pat DeSouza had three hits. Murray, DeSouza and Deke Monk scored three runs each.
“Bubba (Shope, East’s starting pitcher) shut us down the first time we played them,” Brubaker said. “We made some adjustments. We talked to our hitters and got them to understand how to hit this time.”
Bruck and Justin Hobart had run-scoring hits in the first inning and a wild pitch brought in another run as North took a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. North made the score 4-0 in the second as DeSouza doubled and scored on a throwing error.
East took advantage of two North errors to score four runs in the second. Cody Reaser had a run-scoring sacrifice fly and Zach Rogers singled in a run for East.
Hobart led off North’s third with a single and scored when A.J. Vincent’s single was mishandled in the outfield. In a strange twist, East failed to record an out with a strikeout or a batted ball. All three outs that inning came on baserunning mistakes.
Josh Brubaker, Monk and DeSouza singled to lead off the fourth and load the bases. A walk to Murray scored one run. Two errors brought in two more and Vincent’s sacrifice made it a 9-4 game.
Monk was hit by a pitch and DeSouza singled before Murray’s triple off the fence rail. Cameron Koepp was hit by a pitch and Brandon Victor bunted for a hit before Bruck gave North a 13-4 lead with a two-run single. A wild pitch scored North’s last run.
Monschein yielded a two-out hit to C.J. Shope before getting the final out to end the game early on the 10-run rule.
Contact Steve Byrne at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Steve Byrne | The Chronicle-Telegram July 16th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 6% |
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