HUNTINGTON BEACH — Clay Morris’ defense may have let him down in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s Little League District 62 All-Star game.
Fortunately for the Huntington Valley Little League division All-Stars, Morris’ approach to the game never does.
He came back, pitching five strong innings as Huntington Valley handed Robinwood its first loss of the tournament, 5-4, at the HVLL fields.
The game gave both teams one loss, so they met again Wednesday night at 5:30. Huntington Valley won, 7-0, and advances to play Ocean View Tuesday night. Huntington Valley will need to beat Ocean View twice in a row to claim the title.
Ocean View, coached by Tod Minato, got past Seaview, 3-2, in another semifinal.
“The five inches between his ears, that’s the strongest thing he’s got,” Huntington Valley Coach Rick Johnson said of Morris. “He doesn’t let those things bother him. An umpire not giving him a strike, an error behind him, he still comes back and says, ‘Come on batter, what have you got?’ That’s his strong suit, his ability to stay focused on what he’s supposed to do, and that’s why we put him on the mound today. We had plenty of options, and we picked Clay because of his mental approach to the game.”
Huntington Valley, which had lost to Robinwood, 6-1, in a second-round game Sunday, took an early 2-0 lead Tuesday. First baseman Pierson Loska hit a solo home run in the second, and Morris would eventually score on a ball hit by Kyle Coburn.
Robinwood stormed back in the third, with just one hit — an RBI triple by Kyle Frattali — but taking advantage of three Huntington Valley errors.
“I was thinking, ‘We’ve got to get the bats going, we’ve got to start hitting the ball,’ ” Morris said. “I had confidence in our team.”
And Huntington Valley did just that, as Tyler Murray (solo home run) and Jake Scott (two-run shot) both connected in the bottom of the frame to give Huntington Valley a 5-4 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
“Our No. 1 through 6 batters have a lot of power,” Loska said. “If our No. 7, 8 and 9 batters can get on, we can score those runs. Today, our top of the order came through, and so did our bottom of the order. That’s how we won.”
