Ladera 6, Malibu 4
Playing in their fourth game in four nights, Ladera outlasted Malibu 6 to 4 Tuesday night to earn a date with the undefeated West L.A. team tomorrow night.
Ladera jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the first. Centerfielder, Jordan Crisp (.526 BA, .571 OBP), led off the game with a precisely placed bunt single. Second Baseman, Darrien Geyen (.400 BA, .625 OBP), followed with a triple down the right field line to score Jordan. With Darien at third, Lawrence Gilliam delivered a line drive double to right-center field to score Darien. Lawrence now leads the team in batting (.667) and RBIs (8). Finally, Elijah Hodge, who leads the team in on base percentage (.778) stroked a double to deep right center to score Lawrence and take the score to 3-0, Ladera.
Elijah, in his second start on the mound for Ladera, wasted no time retiring the first two batters on strikeouts. Malibu rallied with two outs to push a run accross the plate on a double and single. Ladera Shortstop, Grant Craddolph, took care of the final out of the inning by handling a ground ball to the 6 hole.
In the top of the first, Malik Cole drew a one out walk to get things going for Ladera. Jordan reached on a seeing eye single in front of the mound to put runners on first and second. Darien, who's bat has been on fire as of late, sent a hard ground ball single to the center fielder. The Malibu center fielder made a spectacular throw to plate to nail Malik. After a walk by Grant, Lawrence sent a blooper to shallow right field on an 0-2 breaking ball to score Jordan and Darien and take the score to 5-1 Ladera.
Malibu went quietly in the bottom of the second as Elijah collected his third strikeout of the game and Grant and Darien handled routine ground balls. Ladera narrowly missed on a 4-6-3 double play attempt in the inning.
In the top of the third, Elijah drew a walk. Kyle Thompson, playing in his first game of the tournament after returning from out of state, reached on a fielder's choice up the middle with Elijah being retired at second base. Robert Togia reached on an infield bouncer to move Kyle to second. Valance Sams and Jordan Crisp displayed patience to draw walks and force in Kyle for run number 6 for Ladera.
Feeling the threat of elimination, Malibu battled back in the bottom of the third inning to score one run. Jordan relieved Elijah on the mound in the inning as he approached the 45 pitch count threshhold. Kaelin Woodard stepped up big in the inning for Ladera; just missing a 5-4-3 double play on a sharply hit ground ball to third. At the end of three, Ladera led 6-2.
Elijah collected his second hit of the game in the top of the fourth but was left stranded and the Ladera bats went cold.
Displaying an even greater sense of urgency than in the third inning, Malibu rallied for two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to shrink their defecit to two runs. The inning started, though, with a Web Gem play by Darrien Geyen who went deep into the whole up the middle to backhand a ground ball and throw to Lawrence at first base to record the first out of the innig <Da Da Da! Da Da Da!>. Malibu displayed great resolve in stringing together a double and couple of ground balls to score 2 runs. Elijah turned in a huge play in left field; handling a high fly ball to end the inning.
Feeling the presure, the Ladera bats remained frigid in the top of the fifth as Malibu retired the side quickly to mount another offensive attack in the bottom half of the fifth. With runners on first and second, Ladera called on their closer, Grant Craddolph to extinguish the Malibu rally. Grant displayed great efficiency, striking out the side on 11 pitches (3 up 3 down); stranding two Malibu base runners. Grant had his full arsenal of pitches working as he worked in and out with hard fast balls and used a power curve and sinker to score strike outs.
Needing an insurance run, Lawrence Gilliam continued his rally starting habits by hammering a 2 strike ground ball up the middle for a base hit. Kyle Thompson entered the game to run for Lawrence. Jibri Walden followed with a line drive single to left field to put runners on first and second. Kyle and Jibri moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Elijah hodge sent a screamer to left field that would have scored 2 but instead was handled on a great play by the left fielder. Malibu settled in to retire the next two batters and end the Ladera rally.
Grant returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth to close out the game. After surrendering a lead off single, Grant took control, striking out the next two batters on 8 pitches. The final out was recorded on a great hustle play by catcher, Robert Togia, who raced from behind the plate on a mishit dribbler and threw to Lawrence at first base for the final out of the game.
Elijah earned the win and Grant earned the save with a dominating performance (facing only 2 batters in 7 innings of work and striking out 5).
You can find the play by play recap for this game here.
Ladera will continue their quest for a District 25 Championship when they face West LA on Wednesday at 6:30PM.
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Ladera Little League All Stars 10-11 Team
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