The matchup everyone has been clamoring for drew one round nearer Thursday night at Whaley Park, as the Heartwell All-Stars topped the Redondo Sunset All-Stars 11-7. Since Santa Monica beat Cheviot Hills 14-8, Heartwell will now advance to face Santa Monica on Saturday at 5:30pm; Long Beach will face Lynwood earlier that day at 3pm. If Heartwell and Long Beach both win, they’ll advance to face each other in the Sectional Final on Sunday at 5:30pm.
Of course, it was easy for Heartwell fans to look forward after the first two innings of their Thursday win. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the bottom of the second (scoring four in the first and six in the second). They were outsized by Redondo, but really impressive fielding skills and good overall team batting shredded the opposition.
The future looked very far away from that point forward, however, as they were outscored 7-1 in the final five innings of the game, as Redondo cut away at the lead until ultimately, in the seventh, the tying run came to the plate with the bases loaded.
After two it looked like the ten-run mercy rule might come into play (as it did in Long Beach’s 21-0 win over Santa Monica on Wednesday), but Redondo scored in each inning from the third through the seventh. The real tension came in the seventh, when the Heartwell pitcher walked the first two batters, with jut a five-run lead. Then the third batter popped the ball up, and the pitcher went to get under it—on the first base line. When the runner and the pitcher collided, the ump called the runner out—the Heartwell player showed true grit in getting back up onto the mound, rubbing some dirt on his elbow, and continuing. He got the second out of the inning by striking out the next runner—after that things stiffened up a bit as he walked the next batter to load the bases, and then the next batter to give Redondo a run.
The score stood at 11-7, with the bases loaded—the coaches called on J.P. Crawford, one of the team’s 14-year olds, who came in and got the deciding out in three pitches, ending the game and the suspense…and increasing the chances of a Long Beach/Heartwell final. Come back tomorrow to find out how things went in the loser’s bracket, and then on Saturday for full coverage of the Lynwood/Long Beach and Heartwell/Santa Monica matches. And get out to Whaley to support the local squads!