HUNTINGTON BEACH — "Everybody hits" is the phrase coaches or parents use when they’re trying to spur on a big inning.
Rarely has the phrase been as appropriate as it was Thursday night for the Ocean View Little League 9/10 All-Star squad.
Ocean View’s Hagen Danner would have been fine with far less run support than the 26 runs he received. Then again, though everyone truly was hitting, Danner provided more than enough run support by himself.
He was five for five with two home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs as Ocean View cruised past Robinwood, 26-1, in the final game of the best-of-three District 62 championship. The game went four innings at the Huntington Valley Little League fields, before it was called.
On the mound, Danner allowed just one run on three hits, striking out 10. He and his teammates will now prepare for the Section 10 tournament, which Ocean View is hosting beginning July 18.
Ocean View must have looked nothing like the team that fell to Robinwood, 6-4, on Tuesday, requiring OVLL win the next two to advance. That part looked easy.
"When you’re beating teams, you think you’re going to beat everyone bad," Ocean View Manager Jeff Pratto said. "I think we just came in flat on Tuesday, and they just beat us. I think we came down to reality a little bit, that we’re going to have to play hard every game. And we have in the last two games; we really turned it on.
"We hit the heck out of the ball today. Danner pitched a great game. Both sides of the ball, offense and defense, we really took care of it today."
Danner definitely wasn’t alone. Catcher Nick Pratto was four for five, and he also hit a pair of home runs, each three-run blasts. Second baseman Trevor Windisch also went five for five with three doubles and two batted in.
Between the three of them, the 2-3-4 hitters were a combined 12 for 13 with 17 RBIs.
Anthony Martinez scored four runs for Ocean View, while Zeke Ziegler, Christian Catano and Reid Sebby scored two runs each. Sebby was two for two with four RBIs.
"We were kind of mad," said Danner, who has now hit eight home runs this season, of losing Tuesday’s game. "I was worried because I didn’t want to lose the next game, so I just came out and played."
Nick Pratto, who has five long-balls — all of which came in the All-Star tournament — agreed.
