Jun 24, 2008

National battle brings out best

By Greg Lydon / Daily News Correspondent

Jacob Dorward was clutch, just when his Little League team needed him the most.

Dorward knocked in a team-high four runs, helping Palo Alto National defeat host San Mateo National 8-6 in the semifinals of the District 52 Majors Super Bowl Tournament.

Trailing 5-1 in the top of the third inning, Dorward jolted a two-out single up the middle to score teammates Spencer Drazovich and Kevin Dukovik to cut the San Mateo National lead to 5-3.

The Palo Alto offense continued its journey on the comeback trail in the fourth inning with back-to-back RBI singles to tie the score at 5-5.

Drazovich singled to left, then Dukovik beat out an infield hit for the second RBI of the frame.

Daniel Tachna-Fram followed with another speedy infield RBI single to give Palo Alto a 6-5 lead, then Dorward came to the plate in another big spot for Palo Alto National.

Dorward did his damage to left field this time, sending a fastball into shallow left to bring across two more runners, giving Palo Alto National an 8-5 lead after four innings of action.

"It felt really good to get the hits to help my team win," Dorward said. "Both times I came up there were two outs. I just tried to stay cool at the plate."

Palo Alto led early 1-0, but San Mateo quickly jumped ahead behind the big bat of Richard Boe.

Boe pummeled a two-run homer to center field to give San Mateo a 2-1 lead after one inning. Palo Alto got the first two outs in the second inning, before a two-out rally by San Mateo caused more damage.

Kyle Moscarat and Josh Barney drew back-to-back walks. Then, with third base vacant, Boe made Palo Alto pay again.

Boe hit a moonshot blast to deep left field, the three-run bomb giving San Mateo a 5-1 lead.

"That's the longest one I've seen hit out here," San Mateo National first base coach Brian Green said. "That had to be at least 320 feet. It just kept going up."

The clutch hitting from Dorward got Palo Alto the lead back, but it was two key defensive plays in the outfield that fended off a hard-charging San Mateo National squad.

San Mateo scored once in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a Moscarat walk with the bases loaded to make the score 8-6.

With runners at first and second and only one out, Palo Alto center fielder Kyle Johnson caught a deep fly, then threw a dart to second base to nab the trailing runner for the rally-killing double play to get Palo Alto out of trouble.

Boe was at it again to lead off the bottom of the sixth, as the big bopper cranked a line-drive single off the fence in center field for a promising start. Runners were on first and second base with one out when another defensive gem by Palo Alto prevented a late-inning score by San Mateo.

Sam Dodson was moved into center field in the sixth, and the outfield switch paid off when Dodson took a bouncing single off the grass and fired a strike to home plate to get the sliding San Mateo runner out on a textbook throw.

"When I went down to get the ball I saw he had no chance to score, and I was throwing the ball home," Dodson said. "His foot was on third when I got the ball. I made a hard, confident throw to get him out. It felt really good to make the play there."

Mario Pulido recorded the final out of the sixth inning via the strikeout to advance Palo Alto National to the championship round.

The group of happy Palo Alto Little Leaguers said they didn't care whom they were playing today at 5:30 p.m. They were going to celebrate the big win tonight.