It was a fitting finish to a strange year—as Rams and Bruins rooted for Rabbits, and the possibility of a four-way tie for the championship loomed, the Lakewood Lancers came up with the most big plays and captured the 2010 Moore League baseball title in an 11-8 win.

“It took a weird game,” said Lakewood coach Spud O’Neil, “but it’s been one of the weirdest years.  We’ll take the win, by gosh.”

The Rabbits seized the reins early, when James Harvey singled up the middle in the bottom of the first to score Thomas Walker and Jeff Turley, giving Poly a 2-0 lead to start the game.  But the Lancers didn’t panic, and proved why they’re considered one of the best hitting teams in the section, as they tallied eight unanswered runs over the next three innings.  The freshman J.P. Crawford (who was an incredible 3-5 with 3 runs, and 2 RBI on the big stage) tripled in Tyler Schultz and Jimmy Gosano in the top of the second, and was driven in by Tyler Leidholdt.

The next inning, bunts from Jacob Worrell and Schultz scored another pair, and Hunter Jones and Zach Alofaituli both knocked in another in the top of the fourth to give Lakewood what seemed like plenty of insurance.  “But give [Poly coach] Toby Hess’ team credit,” said O’Neil.  “They came back, and that’s the sign of a good team.”

Come back Poly did, scoring five runs in the bottom of the fourth to bring the score to 8-7.  Eric Gonzales singled in Nikko Santos and Chris Castellanos, then Hayden Hunt came home as Walker hit into a double play.  Henry Severson’s clutch two-out triple drove in two more.

The Lancers scored on Anthony Razo’s double in the bottom of the sixth to make it 9-7, and Lakewood would add a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh, but the Rabbits had their chances in the fifth and sixth.  Santos started the fifth off with a double, then moved to third on Castellanos’ sac bunt.  There was just one out at the time, but a K and a ground out ended the inning.  In the sixth, Poly had Walker at third and Turley at second with no outs, but a strikeout, a fielder’s choice, and a ground out netted them just one run, and they didn’t threaten in the seventh. 

“I’m proud of them for coming back,” said Hess.  “We just couldn’t stop the bleeding [defensively].  But we were down 8-2 and we scored eight.”

For Lakewood the win gives them their fourth league title in the last five years and eighth since 2000.  “That’s huge,” said a smiling Jeff Yamaguchi of taking back the title, in his senior year.  “That’s where it belongs, in Lakewood.”

The freshman lefty Castellanos got the start for Poly (due to his performance in relief against Lakewood in round one), giving up 6 runs and 8 hits in 3.1 innings.  Shane Watson started for Lakewood, giving up 8 runs and 10 hits in 5 innings.  Lakewood showed the strength in their bullpen by bringing in Matt Padilla; the senior was the most dominant pitcher of the evening, striking out three in two innings, and getting the Lancers out of trouble in the bottom of the sixth.

With just four players on his varsity roster graduating, Hess is hoping the experience (along with some success next week in CIF) will boost next year’s returners.  In a fall typical of this strange Spring, Poly goes from playing for a league title to the league’s fourth-seed, meaning they’ll likely get a Wild Card match to qualify for a game against one of the Division 1 bracket’s top four seeds.  Millikan and Wilson tie for second, and Millikan takes the two-seed due to their season sweep of the Bruins; Lakewood will get the top seed, a home game, and hopefully for the Lancers a more favorable result than last year’s road loss to Edison.

“Every year it’s a new set of kids,” said O’Neil.  “These guys have been resilient all year, and they earned it.”

CIF brackets will be released Monday morning, and we’ll post them here as soon as they’re released.