BIG LEAGUE: T.O. WINS TITLE BY ROUTING PUERTO RICO.Byline: HEATHER GRIPP Staff Writer Max Gutierrez downplays his contributions by saying he is just another piece in the puzzle for the Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. Big League team. Apparently, he was just the piece Thousand Oaks needed to finish the puzzle it has been trying to solve for years. Gutierrez, added to the roster midway through the summer when another player left, pitched his second consecutive shutout to lead Thousand Oaks to a 10-0, five-inning, mercy-rule victory over Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (pwār`tō rē`kō), island (2005 est. pop. 3,917,000), 3,508 sq mi (9,086 sq km), West Indies, c.1,000 mi (1,610 km) SE of Miami, Fla. in Saturday's championship game of the Big League World Series in Easley, S.C. It was the third time in four years Thousand Oaks played in the final of Little League's 18-and-under tournament, but the first time it won. `This is awesome,'' Gutierrez said. ``I didn't feel any pressure. I got into a groove and my defense played great, and everything just kept going right. Everyone contributed, it wasn't just me. I'm just a small part of the puzzle.'' Gutierrez (3-0), who threw a one-hit shutout Monday, did not allow a run in 12 innings at the World Series. He allowed just two hits and had six strikeouts against a Puerto Rico team that had scored 34 runs in its six previous games at the World Series and was coming off a semifinal upset of three-time defending champion defending champion n (SPORT) → defensor/a m/f del título defending champion n (Sport) → champion(ne) en titre South Carolina South Carolina, state of the SE United States. It is bordered by North Carolina (N), the Atlantic Ocean (SE), and Georgia (SW). Facts and Figures Area, 31,055 sq mi (80,432 sq km). Pop. (2000) 4,012,012, a 15. . ``It's crazy,'' Thousand Oaks coach Matt Ricatto said. ``They're a legit le·git adj. Slang Legitimate. team, but we played a great game. We came out fired up. Max dominated, then our bats came alive in the fifth inning. It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. . We finally did it.'' Thousand Oaks took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with RBIs by Brett Fick and Jason Barmasse, then broke the game open with eight runs in the fifth. Every Thousand Oaks starter finished with at least one hit. Fick, Cole Kahle, and Cody Fierro each had two hits. Kahle provided the biggest blow in the fifth-inning rally, delivering a bases-clearing double for Thousand Oaks' fifth consecutive hit of the inning. Stephen Notaro also had an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in double in the inning. Thousand Oaks (19-2) finishes the summer with 14 consecutive wins. Thousand Oaks was the only team at the World Series to defeat Puerto Rico, having also beat the Latin American representative 10-5 in the opening game of pool play. heather.gripp@dailynews.com (818) 713-3607 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion