Moorpark All-Stars trump T.O. just in time
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers HIS MOMENT- In his only at-bat of the game, Moorpark's James Glover, rounding second base, blasted a two-run homer in the fourth inning Wednesday against Thousand Oaks American to tie the score at 4-4. Moorpark won the contest, 5-4, in seven innings.

With one out remaining before the umpires called the game due to darkness, Moorpark second baseman Kameron Pollack instead turned the lights out on Thousand Oaks' season.

Pollack laced a one out single to right field to drive home Jared Matterra and give the Moorpark 11- and 12-year-old All-Stars the District 13 championship with a 5-4 win over T.O. American in seven innings Wednesday at Moorpark Little League.

"Their pitchers really only had fastballs, so that's what I was looking for," Pollack said. "I feel kind of bad for their pitcher because I'm good friends with him, but at the same time, I wanted our team to win. After I singled I looked at Jared running from second and just thought, 'Please don't get out at home. Please don't get out.'"

Pollack was also confident at the plate after he talked with his coach, Gordon Mazur, after failing to reach base in his first two plate appearances.

"Coach Gordon saw that I needed to keep my hands back more at the plate," Pollack said. "After he corrected me with that, I knew I would get a hit."

Although Moorpark won the game, it wasn't easy.

In the third inning Thousand Oaks took a 3-0 lead thanks to an RBI single by Elliot Keene and a two-run single off the right-field fence by Zach Portnoy.

With Portnoy on the mound for T.O. the lead looked safe, as the right-hander struck out the first five hitters of the game and didn't allow a base runner during the first two innings. Moorpark, however, started to chip away at the lead in the third when Corey Lee singled home two runs to make the score 3-2 in favor of Thousand Oaks.

T.O. got one of the runs back in the fourth when Patrick Burns drove home Johnny Stuart with a single to make the score 4-2. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Gunnar Mazar tripled to left field to put the tying run at the plate for Moorpark.

Moorpark head coach Marcelo Curt decided to make a change by pinch hitting for Tony Herrera with James Glover.

Glover fouled off a couple pitches to put himself in a 0-2 hole before he got a fastball and sent it to deep left field. The ball bounced off the top of the fence and seemed to hang in midair. Fortunately for Moorpark, the ball fell over the fence for a two-run home run to tie the game.

"James is a hard-hitting lefty that is effective hitting up the middle," Curt said. "He is a clutch hitter, and he hit a big home run."

With the game knotted at four, the two teams failed to score for the next two innings.

Thousand Oaks threatened to score in the top of the seventh when Jacob Lachina singled with one out. But Moorpark pitcher Jordan Guerrero retired the next two batters he faced. The next inning Moorpark won the game.

"I loved playing for this team," Pollack said. "We're very passionate, and we play well as a team. If one of us has a bad day we have someone else that can pick us up. We also have good coaches that always had us ready to play."

Although Curt managed Moorpark, he was quick to point out that he had a lot of help in guiding the young team.

"We had some great coaches in Gordon Mazur and Terry Cole," Curt said. "I couldn't have done all this without them."

Moorpark had a lot to celebrate as its Little League teams won three championships on Wednesday.

The 9 and 10yearold AllStars, as well as the 11-year-old All-Stars, also won their respective divisions, too. Moorpark Little League President Gary Kelman couldn't have been more pleased.

"The kids here have tremendous talent, and I think a lot of that has to do with the great coaches, parents and fields we have here," Kelman said.

This year Moorpark hosted the District 13 tournament and, according to Kelman, many people were pleased with the field conditions.

"I've had so many parents and coaches come up to me and tell me that they believed the conditions of these fields were the best they had ever seen," Kelman said. "Most of that is due to our tournament director, John Husted, who spent so much time making sure everything was just right. It became like a full-time job for him."

Kelman also gave tribute to many volunteers, such as the umpires who put in so much time without getting paid to make sure everything went right.

With the somber mood of former Conejo Valley Little League star Jason Street's untimely death still in the thoughts of many parents, players and fans, Kelman said that everything had to be perfect.

"Jason's death was kind of a motivating factor for us to make sure everything went just right because we know he would have wanted it that way," Kelman said.

"Even though he was in another league, all the communities came together as one big family to help pull everyone together. I know that all the teams in this district are going to the funeral (today in Camarillo) in their uniforms to pay tribute to Jason."

On Saturday, Moorpark will travel to Nipomo to play the winner of the District 63 tournament. Game time is set for 1 p.m.