Loma Linda Unable to Overcome Early Errors

Defense.

It was the thing that Loma Linda Little League manager Ulysses Rodriguez had hoped would come around to help his team advance in the District 21 Little League Division Tournament.

But Friday, five charged errors, along with a handful of mental mistakes, proved too much for Loma Linda to overcome, as it lost 7-5 to Bloomington in an elimination game at Max Lofy Field in Colton.

"That's what lets us down, our defense and speed," Rodriguez said. "You can't do anything about it. But you can't ask for anything else, the kids gave it all."

And give it all they did. Loma Linda put together a rally in the bottom half of the sixth inning, manufacturing one run, and then loading the bases with two outs. With the winning run on first, Peter-Michael Brooks just missed the first pitch he saw, fouling out to end the game.

"It's something to be proud of, because I'm pretty sure that Bloomington didn't think they won the game easily," Rodriguez said. "We battled them and we had them on the ropes, and we just couldn't finish it. We had our best hitter up and his eyes just lit up when he saw that pitch."

Bloomington took advantage of Loma Linda's shaky defense to take a 5-1 lead after two innings. And Marcus Martin extended the lead with a leadoff home run over the left-center field fence to give Bloomington a 6-1 lead through three.

But that's where Loma Linda tightened up behind reliever Alec Boyd and started chipping away on offense.

Brooks led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple down the right field line, and then scored on a ground ball hit by Diego Soto. Soto came around to score on a single by Boyd.

Soto closed the score to 6-4 in the fifth by lining a pitch over the center field fence for a solo home run.

The late rally was one that Bloomington Manager Jose Araiza hopes his team is able to learn from.

"I think that they started to feel comfortable," he said of his team. "You have to have respect for the other team. Anybody can turnaround and have their time."

Starting pitcher Victor Villegas gave Bloomington a strong performance, and more importantly at this stage of the tournament, five full innings on the mound. He struck out four in what Araiza described as one of his first pitching performances in three years.

Meanwhile, Loma Linda starter Sonny Hinojosa struck out seven in three innings, and Boyd fanned another three during his three innings of work.

Bloomington was led offensively by Martin, who had a double to go with his home run, notching two RBI and scoring twice on a 2-for-3 performance. Leadoff hitter David Medina was also 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.

For Loma Linda, Soto was 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI, including his solo homer. Boyd was 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Albert Liu walked twice in two plate appearances, extending rallies each time.