Senior LL series knotted
The Cape Coral Senior Little League Baseball All-Star team was unable to deliver the kind of performance necessary to clinch the District 9 title against Buckingham Wednesday night at Fleishman Park.
They took one more shot at getting the victory through a forfeit. After the players shook hands, Cape protested that one of Buckingham’s starting players did not bat and therefore did not meet the minimum playing requirements.
Game management, which included District 9 administrator Mert Leeman, reviewed the rules and concluded there is no mandatory play in Senior Baseball All-Stars.
Buckingham claimed the victory 9-3, which was a reversal of Monday’s outcome when Cape prevailed by the same count. The teams conclude the best-of-three series at 7 p.m. Thursday at Fleishman Park.
Buckingham’s Luke O’Grady was the player in question. He started the game at second base and was responsible for turning a double play. He was then replaced and did not bat in the game.
“In regular season, every child has to have six defensive outs and one at-bat,” Cape Coral manager Chad Wise said. “When it goes into tournaments they back that off to three consecutive outs and one at-bat.”
Leeman said Wise had part of that correct. There are mandatory playing requirements in the regular season, but not in Senior All-Stars.
“What they did was okay,” Leeman said.
The game itself was a contrast from Monday’s first game. Buckingham received a strong pitching effort from Grayson Fernandez and looked much sharper defensively, after committing four errors in the opening game.
“The big difference tonight was we made all the routine plays,” Buckingham manager Bob O’Grady said.
Cape, on the other hand, made four errors Wednesday after not making any Monday night.
“I don’t know what happened. The guys acted like they weren’t quite with it,” Wise said. “I’ll have a little talk and get them pepped up (for Thursday).”
Fernandez worked 5 2/3 innings for Buckingham. He struck out six and allowed only one run in the first five innings. That came courtesy of Charlie Klein’s solo homer to left field, which put Cape up 1-0 in the top of the second.
Buckingham put together a three-run rally with two outs in the bottom of the third. Adam Terrell and Fernandez delivered RBI singles, and Buckingham picked up the third run on a throwing error by Cape.
Cape’s defensive struggles continued in the bottom of the fifth. They made two more errors and Buckingham broke the game open with five runs. David Itterly provided the big hit, a three-run double into the left field corner.
Kelly Curran sparked Cape’s offense with a two-run double in the sixth. Steve Nason and Cody Tilden each finished with two hits.
Cape Coral 010 002 0 – 3 8 4
Buckingham 003 051 x – 9 11 1
W – Grayson Fernandez. L – Michael Watson.
2B – Fernandez (B), David Itterly (B), Kelly Curran (C). HR – Charlie Klein (C).