In a back-and-forth battle of auto companies, it was Fix Auto that struck early and often, but Hank’s Auto had the last response.
Down by a 9-8 margin in the top of the sixth inning, Hank’s Auto scored five runs to take the lead, and reliever Derek Goulart wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam with a strikeout to give his team a 13-9 comeback victory Saturday in The Dalles Little League Minors championship action at Kramer Field.
“When we were down, we knew that we could get back up if we kept scoring,” said winning pitcher Sterling Coburn. “We knew that we could get back up. We got one point and then another point and kept playing. It is good to see us never give up.”
Fix Auto held leads of 2-1, 5-1, 5-4 and 7-4, but trailed 8-7 after a two-out, two-run single off the bat of Andrew Punch in an eight-pitch battle against relief pitcher Nolan Cates.
Down by one run in the home half of the fifth, Fix Auto scored two runs on three walks, four stolen bases, a wild pitch and a passed ball.
Cates scored the tying run on a wild pitch and with Reece Kenslow at the plate, Adrian Rodriguez scored on a passed ball to put Fix Auto back on top, 9-8.
In the sixth, Camden Dooley and David Chavez started a Hank’s Auto rally with back-to-back walks to start the inning.
Dooley wound up scoring on an RBI fielder’s choice from Harley Scott, and with runners at second and third with no outs, Chavez crossed the plate on a wild pitch, moving Hank’s Auto ahead by a 10-9 score.
Adam Shaw drove in Scott with an RBI fielder’s choice, and after the ball got away from the Fix Auto catcher, Sylis Snyder scored to make it 12-9.
Goulart capped the inning with an RBI walk, which plated Shaw for the team’s fifth run, running the Hank’s Auto lead to 13-9.
Staked to a four-run cushion, Goulart struck out the first batter he faced and allowed an infield single to Shad Greenup.
With Greenup at third after two wild pitches, Goulart retired the next batter on a strikeout.
The next two Fix Auto batters received walks to load the bases with two outs and the tying run at the plate.
Goulart had a 1-2 count and then fired a fastball past a swinging Fix Auto batter for the championship-clinching strikeout.
“It was great to see Derek do that,” said Hank’s Auto coach Mark Coburn. “I have put him in that kind of situation before and he has always stepped up. I put him in there to help get us this win and he responded well. I am so happy for him. He did a great job.”
Goulart picked up the save for Hank’s Auto reliever, Sterling Coburn, who tossed three innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts and five walks. Coburn was tagged for four runs, all earned.
Fix Auto pitchers allowed 13 runs, eight earned, on six hits with 10 strikeouts and 11 walks. The defense committed three errors and the pitchers also uncorked seven wild pitches.
“Today, these boys put themselves in position to win this game, but it didn’t quite work out for us. It is what it is,” said Fix Auto head coach Michael Cates. “Sometimes the other team comes out and executes a little bit more. We kind of ran into a little problem late in the game. Our pitching was not quite where it has been all year long. They did a great job. They made us pay for our mistakes. They scored on our walks and they got some hits in crucial parts of the game.”
Hank’s Auto finished the year with a 10-4-1 record with 155 runs scored and 91 allowed.
This season, Hank’s went 0-3 against Fix Auto and was outscored by a 27-15 margin.
“As the season went on, we just got better and better,” Goulart said. “We improved on our hitting. I think our defense improved quite a bit. We had some catches in the outfield. Our pitching was pretty good all year.”
Coach Cates wants to see more kids coming out to play little league baseball in the next few years to popularize the sport and get The Dalles back into championship contention at the high school level.
Although the team wound up with a 14-1 record overall, the offense scored a league-high 175 runs and the pitchers gave up 101 runs in those little league contests.
That is not a bad run, considering many of these athletes were playing in the coach-pitch division last season.
“Coaching at this level is awesome,” coach Cates said. “The fun thing is watching them come out ready to compete. They were put in different situations all year, where they had to learn how to compete. I truly believe that these guys learned a lot of valuable lessons from this season and this game in particular. The whole group has a bright future ahead of them.”
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