June 24, 2006

AYALA PARK, CHINO  – FINAL: En Fuego 17, Damage Time 5

En Fuego scored nine times in the second inning of the championship game against Damage Time collecting ten hits including home runs by Jason Santoro and all-tournament leftfielder Jerry Langner. That was all the runs they needed to win the game by a score of 17-5. The victory rapped up a perfect day for En Fuego with a 5-0 record, winning their first ever CSA Tournament. En Fuego dominated the competition recording four mercy wins in five games on the day. Their closest game was a 16-8 victory over third place finisher SEU in the second game of the day. In the final, Damage Time scored two runs in the first inning and three in the third, but En Fuego controlled the tempo of the game and never trailed after the second inning of the five inning mercy win. En Fuego outfielder Jason Hogan, the tournament MVP, drove in four runs in the game to lead the way for En Fuego, as he did all tournament long. Hogan ended the day with a team high .857 batting average and also led the team with 14 RBI in five games. After some time away from the team Hogan was glad to be playing with En Fuego again. “I’m just happy to be playing with the team again. I’m already looking forward to the next tourney.”

Kevin Lorton of En Fuego collected three hits in the game and made a spectacular diving catch in right field. His final hit drove in two runs including the game winner in the bottom of the fifth inning for the walk-off win. Batting leadoff for En Fuego, Lorton batted .706 on the day and had a team high six doubles. His great play both defensively and at the plate throughout the day earned him all-tourney honors. En Fuego pitcher Rob Heslar went 3-for-3 and scored three times in the final game. “He shutdown batters all day long.” Said En Fuego Manager Craig Watkins. The most runs En Fuego allowed in one game was eight by SEU. Overall Heslar and the En Fuego defense allowed only 28 runs in five games, an average of 5.6 runs a game. “His performance today couldn’t have been any better.” Said Watkins “That’s one of the best efforts from an En Fuego pitcher in a long time, perhaps ever.”

Overall there were many contributors for En Fuego throughout the tournament. Along with Langner and Lorton, shortstop Cesar Reyes and infielder Bob Perry were both named to the all-tournament team. Reyes’ solid play defensively led a good defensive performance for En Fuego on the day. Reyes batted .750 and drove in six runs while scoring nine times. Perry’s veteran leadership along with some outstanding play at first base helped En Fuego to the title. Perry drove in six runs, scored nine times and batted .714 on the day, third best behind only Hogan and Reyes. Other outstanding performances by En Fuego were by outfielder Jeff Johnson and catcher James Verdi. Johnson led the team with three triples and tied Heslar for the most runs scored with ten. Johnson batted .647 on the day. Verdi, normally an outfielder played catcher because of a recent injury and didn’t miss a beat offensively. Defensively he made several key plays including being part of the first ever En Fuego triple play. He tied Reyes and Langner for the most home runs for En Fuego with two, and drove in nine and scored nine while batting .538 in five games.

NOTES: En Fuego turned its first ever triple play in the fifth inning of the game against Fed Up…With no outs and runners on first and second base a ground ball to Ryan Johnson at second base started the play, he flipped to Reyes at short for the first out…Reyes in an attempt to get two, threw to Perry at first base, but the batter-runner was safe…Perry then threw home to get a runner trying to score, but Verdi tagged him out and returned the ball to the Heslar on the mound…Perry than called for the ball and tagged the batter-runner who rounded first base…Perry’s heads up play caught  the Fed Up player falling asleep as he walked off the bag at first base thinking there were already three outs…Scoring the play, it was a 4-6-3-2-1-3 triple play!.....After two games En Fuego was 2-0 and one game away from a showdown with long time league rival Stac Pac who lost in the last inning and were eliminated from the tournament by Fed Up…Stac Pac finished 3-1 on the day respectfully…En Fuego went on to mercy Fed Up 16-4 en route to their 9th tournament title in team history…Kevin Lorton collected his 200th career double in the second game of the day for En Fuego against SEU.

Top Row (L to R): Cesar Reyes, Kevin Lorton, Craig Watkins, Jeff Johnson, Jason Santoro, Bob Perry, Rob Heslar.
Bottom Row  (L to R): Ryan Johnson, Jason Hogan, Jerry Langner, James Verdi, Jason England. (Not pictured: Ryan Sauers)

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