Devil Rays

The Devil Rays and Dodgers each posted easy victories Thursday in Fountain Valley Littler League Minor A Division play at Mile Square Park, and the Mets and Reds also collected key wins to keep pace with their counterparts. The Devil Rays routed the Yankees, 13-3, by scoring the game's final 13 runs after the Yankees had staked their way to a 3-0 advantage through two innings of play. The comeback began when both Jason Gorman and Derek Smith produced run-scoring doubles, then continued with Kevin Smisko's RBI triple.

The Cardinals and Devil Rays each posted two victories last weekend in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play. The Cardinals topped the Mariners, 11-5 and the Marlins, 3-2. Zach Cardinelli had two hits, Grant Furuya tripled and Ricky Rea singled against the Mariners, who received two hits from both Justin Maddux and Ryan Buckles, and a pair of doubles from Joe Musser and Matt Hernandez. Gordon Edwards had a two-RBI double and Furuya struck out eight in six innings against the Marlins.

The Marlins won two games last weekend in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play, blanking the Dodgers, 16-0, and beating the Devil Rays, 8-4, at Mile Square Park. The Marlins used a 16-hit attack to defeat the Dodgers, getting four hits from Jordan Brown, three by Cameron Hammer, a double and single by Nick McIsaac and Jeff Spirk, a tripled by Zach Moore, and a double by Bobby Johnson. Against the Devil Rays, Brown singled, tripled and scored three runs, Moore went 3 for 3, and Spirk doubled twice.

The Marlins had the Majors Division championship in hand before they met the Devil Rays last Saturday, and it was a good thing, as the Devil Rays posted a 7-1 victory in Fountain Valley Little League action at Mile Square Park. Les Obie, Kevin Smisko and Jeff Dang all had singles, Kyle Yoakum scored twice, and Smisko struck out seven in a complete game effort as the Devil Rays finished in second place at 7-3. Nick McIsaac and Jeff Spirk each singled twice and Bobby Johnson singled for the Marlins (8-2)

Jared Case smacked a two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning to cap a late rally that lifted the Devil Rays to a 9-8 victory over the Angels in Fountain Valley Little League Minor A Division play Friday at Mile Square Park. The Halos had led, 8-5, heading into the bottom of the sixth. But the Devil Rays rally began when Kevin Smisko delivered a two-RBI single. Other hitting leaders for the winners included Jake Hyland with two hits and Jeff Dang with a double.

Devil Rays pitcher Kevin Smisko scattered five hits over six innings and struck out 13 batters along the way to lead his team to a 3-1 victory over the first half champion Mets in Fountain Valley Little League Minor A Division action at Mile Square Park. The setback was the first of the season for the Mets. Smisko also helped his own cause with a single and double, and Jake Hyland doubled with two RBI to lead the Devil Rays on offense. Andrew Stadnick had two hits for the Mets.

The Devil Rays, Reds, and Mets all posted easy victories Thursday at Mile Square Park, each scoring in double figures to highlight play in the Minor A Division. Devil Rays 16, Angels 6 Kyle Yoakum doubled twice with two RBI, Kevin Smisko singled twice with three RBI, Jared Case had a two-run single, Jason Gorman had a hit and RBI, Justin Sugamura had an RBI, and Joey Reyes added an RBI single for the Devil Rays. Mitchell Tezak singled and doubled and Eric Hamilton also doubled for the Angels.

Justin Sugamura scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to cap a late rally by the Devil Rays, who went on to score a 10-9 victory over the Orioles in Fountain Valley Little League Minor A Division play at Mile Square Park. Kyle Yoakum paced the Devil Rays on offense with two singles and three RBI, and Kevin Smisko doubled and tripled. Aaron Malais singled, doubled, had two RBI, and scored three runs, Brenton McCarthy singled twice with an RBI, Jason Swanberg had two hits, and Ryan Haskin and Kyle Myers each had RBI singles for the Orioles.

Billy Bintner delivered an RBI single in the ninth inning last weekend to lift the Devil Rays to a 3-2 victory over the Yankees in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play. The game was tied at 1-1 through six innings, when the Devil Rays got their second run of the game in the eighth inning on Alex Moreno's fourth home run of the season. Moreno also doubled in the contest, Les Obie doubled and singled and Bintner also doubled. Mark Cubberly led the Yankees with a pair of singles.

In a battle between two of the top teams battling for the second half championship of the Minor A Division race, the Mets outlasted the Devil Rays, 6-5, in a Fountain Valley Little League showdown played at Mile Square Park. Billy Bintner had a double and two RBI, David Tarbell delivered an RBI triple, and Robert Johnson and Brett Hill each had RBI singles to help the Mets record the key victory, Jake Hyland had an RBI triple, Kevin Smisko hit three singles, and Jeffrey Dang had an RBI single for the Devil Rays.

An inside-the-park home run by Justin Reed in the seventh inning broke open a season-opening Juniors Division game Saturday and sent the Braves on their way to an 8-5 victory over the Dodgers at Huntington Valley Little League. It was the second hit of the game for Reed and Lance Siegel also doubled in the fifth inning for the Braves. Hayden Polhamus struck out nine in 3 1/3 innings and Austin Floyd and Nick Gates followed with 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching. Riley Baggett threw three innings and Allen Marquez pitched four relief innings for the Dodgers.

Jeff Spirk delivered a home run in the seventh inning Saturday to lift the Marlins past the Yankees, 5-4, in Majors Division play. He also got victory, striking out 11 in six innings. The Marlins also received two hits from Zack Moore and a triple from Cameron Hammer. The Yankees' Matt Fink hit two singles. In other games: Devil Rays 5, Cardinals 2 Tied 2-2 through six innings, the Devil Rays scored three runs in the seventh to get the win. Jake Rear, David Tarbell and Kyle Yoakum loaded the bases before Les Obie singled home the go-ahead run and Kevin Smisko singled home the final two. Billy Bintner hit a home run in the first inning, his second of the season.

Billy Bintner delivered an RBI single in the ninth inning last weekend to lift the Devil Rays to a 3-2 victory over the Yankees in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play. The game was tied at 1-1 through six innings, when the Devil Rays got their second run of the game in the eighth inning on Alex Moreno's fourth home run of the season. Moreno also doubled in the contest, Les Obie doubled and singled and Bintner also doubled. Mark Cubberly led the Yankees with a pair of singles.

Jeff Mitchell's big day at the plate Saturday sparked the Yankees, who went on to beat the Mariners, 9-3 in Majors Division play. Mitchell paced the Yankees' attack with four hits, three RBI and two runs scored. Mark Cubberly and Matt James each had two singles for the Yankees. The Mariners received two singles from Justin Maddux and a double by Ryan Buckles. In other games: Marlins 4, Devil Rays 2 The Marlins won behind Jeff Spirk's 12 strikeout complete game.

Grant Furuya came up with the big hit the Cardinals needed Saturday as his two-run home run in the third inning broke a 3-3 tie and sent the Cards on their way to a 5-3 victory over the Marlins in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play at Mile Square Park. It was the second of two big hits for Furuya on the day as he also had an RBI double. Teammate Gordon Edwards went 3 for 3. The Marlins were led by Mitchell Tezak, who went 2 for 2, and Jeff Spirk, who contributed with an RBI double.

The Marlins had the Majors Division championship in hand before they met the Devil Rays last Saturday, and it was a good thing, as the Devil Rays posted a 7-1 victory in Fountain Valley Little League action at Mile Square Park. Les Obie, Kevin Smisko and Jeff Dang all had singles, Kyle Yoakum scored twice, and Smisko struck out seven in a complete game effort as the Devil Rays finished in second place at 7-3. Nick McIsaac and Jeff Spirk each singled twice and Bobby Johnson singled for the Marlins (8-2)

The Marlins were two-time winners during the week in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division action at Mile Square Park, with pitcher Jeff Spirk leading the way with a no-hit pitching performance. The Marlins edged the Yankees, 3-2, thanks to Justin Sugamura's RBI single, which scored Spirk in the bottom of the sixth inning. Spirk, who earlier had singled in the game, reached base in the sixth on a triple. Spirk also tamed the Yankees with 13 strikeouts in a no-hit effort.

In a battle between two of the Majors Division top teams, the Marlins got the best of the Cardinals, 4-2, in Fountain Valley Little League weekend action at Mile Square Park. The Marlins secured the victory by getting seven hits in the game, including an RBI double in the third inning from Zach Moore, and a triple by John Spirk in the fifth inning, which drove home the final two runs. Spirk also pitched a complete game, getting 12 strikeouts. For the Cardinals, Ricky Rea singled and scored both runs, Brian Faust doubled, and Andrew Bender had a single.

The Marlins won two games last weekend in Fountain Valley Little League Majors Division play, blanking the Dodgers, 16-0, and beating the Devil Rays, 8-4, at Mile Square Park. The Marlins used a 16-hit attack to defeat the Dodgers, getting four hits from Jordan Brown, three by Cameron Hammer, a double and single by Nick McIsaac and Jeff Spirk, a tripled by Zach Moore, and a double by Bobby Johnson. Against the Devil Rays, Brown singled, tripled and scored three runs, Moore went 3 for 3, and Spirk doubled twice.

The Padres ran their record to 3-0 last weekend by beating the Marlins, 12-6, in Fountain Valley Youth Baseball Pony Division action. Justin Ballew was perfect at the plate with a double and three RBI in a 3 for 3 performance, Mitchell Roemer doubled among two hits, Chad Blauer singled twice and Erick Koon also doubled. Vincent DiDomenico, Michael Wolff, Daniel Rogers (double) and Kurt Slanaker all had key hits as the Marlins rallied briefly to tie the score at 6-6. Ballew then shut down the Marlin attack with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching and Blauer closed the game by not allowing a hit or run, and striking out three, over the final two innings.