Two errors in one lackluster inning wiped away the Hastings All-stars slim lead, ending their Little League season Sunday at Elm Park in a 4-2 loss to White Rock in the B.C. majors championship.
With the win, White Rock will travel to Glace Bay, N.S. for the Canadian nationals where a team from B.C. has won the title for the past eight years and earned the right to wear the Maple Leaf at the Little League World Series.
Hastings went all the way to Williamsport, PA last year and before that in 2009. White Rock went in 07 and 08. Vancouvers Little Mountain attended in 2010. Although the winning Little League trades in its team jersey for Canadas colours, each roster turns over almost completely each summer as only a few prodigious 11-year-olds return the next season. The rest of the players are 12.
No Hastings All-star will return to Little League next year and the boys crestfallen faces showed their disappointment. No eyes were dry, lips trembled and a player sobbed openly in the arms of his father. In one case, tears fell on the shadow of a pre-teen moustache.
Hastings manager Vito Bordingnon said his competitive club will always try to win provincials as well as nationals and conceded the boys were not taking the loss easily.
Its tough. They know that something has escaped from them. They had a chance, he said near their dugout as White Rock players raced around the ballpark, jubilant with trophy in hand.
All these kids want to go the World Series and this was their first step to get there. Theyre most disappointed about what could have been. And its tough.
Cortez DAlessandro and Carter Kada-Wong were the only 11-year-olds on the All-star team in 2012 when Hastings defeated White Rock 20-0 to win the provincial title and then went 7-0 to win nationals.
In the round robin on Wednesday, Hastings lost 12-9 to White Rock off a three-run walk-off home run. In the semi-final Saturday, Hastings eliminated Forest Hills 2-5.
In Sundays final with a crowd of roughly 600 at Kerrisdales home park, Kada-Wong, who batted .417 through the tournament, set the scene for Hastingss opening run in the top of the third with a single to right field. On a stand-up double by DAlessandro, Kada-Wong confidently rounded the bases, circled for home and just outreached the throw to take a 1-0 lead.
It felt great. I was just running, said Kada-Wong, talking after the loss, his eyes downcast and red-rimmed. We had a great season but came up short.
DAlessandro scored on a Nico Santarelli RBI and Hastings led 2-0 after three innings.
Confusion broke out in the bottom of the fourth when Hastings second baseman Adam Inouye seemed to make an excellent double play after he gloved a hard line drive. Hastings excitedly cheered their way to the dugout but the umpire stationed at second waved them back. The runner was safe; Inouye had only clipped the bag.
The All-stars poured from both dugouts and took their place around the diamond, both teams on edge for different reasons. DAlessandro struck out the batter, his sixth of the afternoon, and Hastings hit the high point of their game with only six outs between them and the championship.
He pitched well, he threw excellent, Bordignon said of his starter. He hit spots, threw strikes. If wed had made a few more plays for him, wed probably have gotten out of a few innings a little sooner. He did everything we expected him to do.
DAlessandro threw eight strikes and no walks. The right-hander allowed 10 hits in 84 pitches, just one below the limit, in five innings. He worked the entire game for Hastings, mixing his curveball and fastball with an off-speed change-up that baffled batters.
His fastball can reach 70 mph, but, said Bordignon, Weve never really clocked it.
In the bottom of the fifth, the wheels came off. White Rock batters singled on two middling ground balls, one thanks to a Hastings infield error, and on the next hit, White Rock loaded the bases with just one out. Two runners scored and two more came home on the next hit, a line drive to left field that was misjudged for a second error. Hastings trailed 4-2 with a runner on third and only one out.
One bad inning and a couple mistakes and thats what happens. Momentum changes, said Bordignon.
DAlessandro struck out the next batter and a pop-up was caught to end the inning, leaving Hastings a final frame to rally a come-back.
Matthew Shewfelt popped up a fly ball that was caught, Sam VanSnellenberg walked in a show of skilled defensive hitting, and the next two batters went down swinging.
We couldnt get out bats going, we couldnt get it back, said Bordignon. It was too much, too soon and we couldnt react.
After the semifinal win, Bordignon sat his players down. I was saying they were a good team. Youre good enough to be here and theres a reason why youre here. And, he told them, make the most of your chance.
After the loss he said, They played with their hearts. They played well.
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