HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.–A brief homecoming celebration is planned tonight in Huntington Beach for the Little League world champion Ocean View Little League all-star team.
The celebration is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. in the parking lot of the league’s field at 16666 Tunstall Lane. Participants are asked to wear league apparel and bring flashlights, glow sticks, American flags and banners.
A victory parade is scheduled for Sept. 10.
Ocean View became the first Orange County team to win the Little League World Series with a 2-1 victory over the Hamamatsu Minami Little League All-Stars from Hamamatsu City, Japan Sunday in South Williamsport, Pa.
Nick Pratto singled in pinch-runner Eric Anderson from third base with the tie-breaking run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“I was ahead in the count and I was just looking for a good pitch to hit to drive and I got it,” said Pratto, who had three of Ocean View’s six hits. “When I was walking up, I was thinking, ‘Oh God, oh God.’
“But once I got in the box, I just started to calm down, get my head straight and see the ball. I just thought, ‘See it. Drive it.”‘
Ocean View manager Jeff Pratto called his son, “a clutch kind of hitter,” citing a leadoff triple in the top of the sixth and final inning that began a two-run rally in Ocean View’s 2-1 victory in the West Region Tournament championship game Aug. 13 that put the team into the Little League World Series.
Braydon Salzman, the No. 7 hitter in Ocean View’s lineup, walked on five pitches leading off the sixth and advanced to second on Dylan Palmer’s single.
Salzman moved to third when Hagen Danner was safe at first on an error by Gaishi Iguchi, the Hamamatsu Minami shortstop. Salzman was forced out at the plate on a ground ball by Trevor Windisch for the inning’s second out.
Pratto followed by hitting a 2-0 pitch from reliever Kazuto Takakura into center field for the game-winning single, atoning for a third-inning throwing error that accounted for Hamamatsu Minami’s run.
“Braydon set up the inning with a walk and that was the key,” Jeff Pratto said. “I knew if we got one of (our seven, eight, nine hitters) on and got to the top of the order that we’d be OK.”
Salzman, a 13-year-old right-hander, was the winning pitcher, throwing a three-hitter and striking out nine.
“I keep saying–I’ve said it for three different games now–he pitched the greatest game of his life,” Jeff Pratto said.
“He was the right guy for the job today, a pitcher who is very efficient, able to change speeds and hit his spots, which is what you need to beat Japan. He went beyond the call of duty today and locked it down.”
Hamamatsu Minami manager Akihiro Suzuki, speaking through an interpreter, said Salzman “has a really good fastball, good rhythm and control.”
“He was a really nice pitcher,” Suzuki said.
Hamamatsu Minami took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Seiya Fujita led off with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Kaito Suzuki, the lightest player in the World Series, weighing 68 pounds.
Suzuki moved to second on Shoto Totsuka’s sacrifice bunt, then tried to advance to third. Pratto, the Ocean View first baseman, threw wildly for an error, allowing Suzuki to score.
Ocean View tied the score in the bottom of the third when Danner led off with a home run to center field.
“That was vital, to get that right back quickly,” Jeff Pratto said after Ocean View’s 23rd victory in its 25 games.
“(Coach) Tony (Cianca) even said, `OK guys, it’s a three-inning ballgame. It’s 0-0 and we’re going to play three innings.’ That’s where Braydon’s efficiency comes in.”
Salzman threw 83 pitches, two less than the maximum, with 61 of them strikes.
Salzman was also involved in two key defensive plays in the top of the sixth inning. He threw out a runner at second on a bunt, then fielded a bunt and began a play that resulted in a runner being thrown out at third.
The start of the game was delayed three hours because of rain from Hurricane Irene.
“Today’s conditions were difficult to get used to,” Akihiro Suzuki said. “If it rains in Japan like this, usually we don’t play, we don’t have the game, so this situation is kind of rare of us.”
Ocean View was the seventh Orange County team to play in the Little League World Series and third to reach the championship game.
The Northwood Little League All-Stars from Irvine but lost 21-1 to the all-stars from Hua-Lien, Taiwan for the world championship in 1987. The South Mission Viejo Little League All-Stars lost, 5-4, to the all-stars from Guadalupe, Mexico for the 1997 title.
U.S. teams are 14-32 against their foreign counterparts in the Little League World Series championship game, but have won six of the last seven, including a 6-3 victory in 2009 by the Park View Little League All-Stars of Chula Vista from San Diego over the all-stars from the Kuei-Shan Little League in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
