BASEBALL : MOORPARK'S TOUGH ROAD PEARL CITY WINS IN EXTRA INNINGS.

Byline: Vincent Bonsignore Daily News Staff Writer

The road to the Little League World Series in Williasport, Pa. got a little tougher for the Moorpark Little League All-Stars Tuesday night after it lost to Pearl City of Hawaii 6-5 in the Western Regionals at San Bernardino.

While Pearl City gets a direct pass to Friday's championship game, Moorpark must now win games today and Thursday in order to force a rematch in the double-elimination tournament.

And even should it manage to adavance to Friday's championship round, Moorpark will have to beat Pearl City twice.

Talk about up-hill battles.

For better or worse, Moorpark resumes its quest today against Rock Springs of Wyoming at 5 p.m.

Moorpark was able to push the game into extra innings with a jolt of heroics when Michael Lopez blasted a game-tying home run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give his club new life against Pearl City of Hawaii.

The game was tied 5-5 heading into the top of the eighth inning with Moorpark at bat.

The winner earns a direct pass to Friday's championship game and inches a bit closer to a trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. The loser faces an uphill battle to the final, having to wins games today and Thursday in the double-elimination tournament.

The winning team Tuesday will have the advantage of entering Friday's championship round without a loss and would have to lose twice on Friday to lose the championship.

Moorpark seemed on its way in the first inning when it pushed across four runs off two Pearl City pitchers.

Whereas most of Moorpark's big innings in this tournament have been the result of home runs or doubles, Tuesday's first-inning barrage was the complete opposite. In fact, all but one of its four runs came via the single. The only exception was when Erik Johnson legged out a run on Keith Pabers' ground ball to first base.

In the inning, Justin Pizzola, Matt Davenport and Tommy Gunn each had run-scoring singles.

Johnson, who had three home runs prior to Tuesday, was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out in the first, setting the stage for Pizzola's RBI single.

Pearl City employed the same strategy on Johnson in the second inning - this time with two outs and nobody on base - again in the fourth with runners at first and third and two out, and once more in the sixth inning, following Lopez' home run, in a definite show of respect or fear.