The Noon Optimist Little League Dodgers won the Sterling Grant City Championship against the Lions Hondo Little League Yankees by a score of 6-5 Tuesday night at the Hal Bogle Sports Complex in Dexter.
“At the end of the day our team didn’t give up, and we kept fighting,” Noon Optimist Dodgers head coach James Brown said. “Lions Hondo Yankees is a well put-together team and we knew we have to play our best ball. I think we had a couple of errors but our boys made some amazing plays and hit the ball.”
To get onto the grand stage, the Noon Optimist Dodgers defeated the Lions Hondo Mariners 4-2 and the Yankees took down the Noon Optimist Royals 10-5 in the semifinals the previous Saturday.
In the finals, Lions Hondo Yankees were able to get the go-ahead RBI In the top of the first inning but the Noon Optimist Dodgers came right back with one of their own in the bottom of the inning.
Both teams kept their offensive intensity through all six innings. The difference came from Dodgers' pitcher Gael Cordero. Number 66 pitched two innings without runs and the Dodgers' fielders kept the Lions Hondo Yankees at bay.
Cordero’s pitching and the Dodgers' defense held the Lions Hondo Yankees to only two runs by the end of the fifth inning and gave the Dodgers the energy to put up a three-run lead.
Lions Hondo Yankees went through three pitching changes to give the Noon Optimist Dodgers new looks.
Yankees assistant coach Dude Burrola said the kids battled and stayed resilient. The Lions Hondo Yankees came back from a three-run deficit and tied the game in the sixth.
“It just shows the resiliency of these kids,” Burrola said.
The Yankees would get within striking distance of the trophy but the Dodgers would ultimately come out on top.
“(Noon Optimist Dodgers) had great pitching at the beginning, their catcher was tough, but we held in there and hit the ball. It’s just some costly errors got us,” Burrola said. “For the kids to come out here and do what they did. To be able to compete and not give up. That says a lot about how they are and who they are. They learned how to compete and that’s a life lesson that they are going to have. We just fell short on a couple of bad things but that’s baseball."
Sports reporter Blynn Juliano Beltran can be reached at 575-622-7710, ext. 304, or sports@rdrnews.com.
