Canfield captures 11-12 district title

July 12, 2015 at 12:05a.m.

Third-inning run enough to beat Boardman

BOARDMAN

With teammate Brent Herrmann standing at third base with two outs in the third inning of a scoreless tie, Canfield’s Cory Rose wasted no time making a difference.

Rose jumped on the first pitch Boardman’s Michael Pastella delivered and singled past second base, scoring Herrmann with the only run in Saturday’s Little League District 2 final for 11-12-year-olds.

“I didn’t really think it was going through,” Rose said of his clutch hit after Canfield’s 1-0 victory at the Fields of Dreams.

He said his instincts were correct.

“I knew his first pitch is usually a fastball down the middle,” Rose said.

That run held up as Pastella and Canfield pitcher Brandon Mikos engaged in a marvelous pitchers’ duel.

In his five-plus innings on the mound, Mikos allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked three. In five innings, Pastella tossed a five-hitter, striking out four and walking one.

“For a baseball purist, that’s the best kind of baseball, a 1-0 game,” Canfield manager Duke Starr said. “Our idea is don’t let them score and obviously that was their idea, too.

“Pastella pitched a heckuva a game, as we did.”

Herrmann ignited Canfield’s rally with a one-out double into the left-field corner. He advanced to third base on Mikos’ groundout to Pastella. Herrmann’s three hits included two doubles.

Mikos threw 84 pitches in the first five innings, meaning he could only face one batter in the sixth inning. Little League has an 85-pitch limit.

“I was feeling pretty good,” said Mikos, Canfield’s only player who returned from last year’s 11-12 team that won state and competed against Chicago’s Jackie Robinson West at the Little League regional in Indianapolis. “I like close games.”

Boardman made things interesting in its final at-bat. Ty Ventresco led off with a bloop single and right fielder Alex Iannizzaro relieved Mikos. Ventresco stole second base and advanced to third when Marco Stilliana grounded out for the second out.

Nathan Fleming then drew a five-pitch walk and stole second base. Iannizzaro ended the threat with a called strike three, stranding Ventresco and Fleming in scoring position.

Mikos said he left the mound feeling positive.

“He’s doing really well this year,” said Mikos of Iannizzaro, “so I was feeling pretty confident with him coming in.”

The sixth-inning jam was the second one Canfield escaped. With two outs in the second inning, Boardman’s John Hyde singled and Justin Jones and Jason Triveri walked to load the bases. Pastella threw a scare into Canfield when he hit a fly ball to right field where Iannizzaro caught it for the third out.

“I knew he didn’t get enough of it,” Boardman manager Jason Triveri said. “I was hoping it would drop.

“When you’re facing a really good pitcher like that, he makes you swing at something you normally wouldn’t,” Triveri said. “But hey, he put the bat on the ball and that’s what we tell the kids.”

Earlier in the tournament, Canfield defeated Boardman, 12-9.

“We’ve played them 20 times in the past three years and it’s usually a one-run game,” Triveri said. “You’ve got two very evenly-matched teams and hats off to them — they are a great team.”