On Sports
With Jim Ferguson
~9ers while the Rams battled the
?Green Bay Packers in Wiscoaasin.
-Results were not available by
~pi-ess time. It was a tough time
for many of the hopefuls trying
to make a career in professional
football. The dreaded call telling
them the coach would like to see
them and bring your playbook
will end many dreams.
Fiery NCAA matchups
USC's weekend opponent the
Western Michigan Broncos had
a fantastic season last year going
13-1.
Last year's coach P.J. Fleck
got hired away by the University
of Minnesota an.d their new
coach Tim Lester has his hands
full with the talented Trojans.
Chargers win early battle *
The battle for LA last week
between the Chargers and the
Rams ended with a 21 - 19 score
with the Chargers coming out
on top. Phillip Rivers led the
Chargers to two first quarter
touchdowns and the third score
of the first quarter was a 94-yard
fumble recovery by linebacker
Melvin Ingram.
Down 21 points, the Rams
chipped away at the Charger
defense and had a chance to win
it with a relatively short field
goal that was wide left.
Both teams played their final
preseason game on Thursday
night.
The Chargers traveled up to
the Bay area and took on the
state is trying to dry out from
Hurricane Harvey.
Game time is 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 2
in the Los Angeles ~oliseum and
with the current heat wave l?d
rather be on Descanso beach in a
lounge chair sipping on a:bever-
age with a umbrella catching it
on the radio.
UCLA will kick off-the next
day at 4:30 p.m. in the late after-
noon.
The Bruins are motivated to
show everyone that last years 4-8
record was an anomaly and they
have a squad that can compete
in the tough PAC 12 conference.
They will be playing the
always tough Texas A&M
Aggies.
I'm sure the Aggies will be
excited to get out of Texas for .~ld Card entry.
a few days while much of the Every. game
. --. . .
Playoff tee up
Both local baseball teams
forged ahead this last week in
their pursuit for post-season play.
The Dodgers played the week
with four of their All-Stars on
the disabled list.
The good news is everyone
is heal-
ing up and
most s~ould
return o the
lineup in
the nex few
days.
Cla'ton
Kershav is
schedlled
to )itch
this F'iday Jim Ferguson
and 2ory Columnist
Bellilger
could te reinstated as early as
Wedne~ay.
Rec~ pickup from the Mets,
Curtis'Granderson, hit three
home rails this past week and is
a fine edition to the Dodgers.
The An'g~s~ are in the middle
ofa eatfight to secure one of two
~pots ~s an Amer~car~ League
counts for
7~
the Halos and their franchise
player, Mike Trout is in a mild
slump going hitless in his last
five games. Trout is one of the
top players in the pros and. I'm
sure he'll get key hits down the
stretch.
There are roughly 30 games to
go in the regular season and the
Dodgers are flirting with achiev-
ing the best win and loss record
of all time if they continue their
torrid pace.
116 victories in the regular
season is the all-time record.
Big dogs in little league
The Little League World
Series was concluded in
Williamsport, Pennsylvania this
past weekend. The champion-
ship game between Japan and
the United States representative
from Lufkin, Texas looked like
a slugfest Wffh the USA hitting
two homers in the first inning.
Unfortunately, that was the
only scoring for the young
Texans and the Japanese team
from Tokyo got their mojo work-
ing and cruised to a 12-2 victory.
The amazing fact is these kids
from Tokyo's Kitasuna Little
League have won three of the last
six Little League World Series
Championships.
Local squad edges
Straight Up Builders
late in the game
BY PAT ENGEL
FOR THE ISLANDER
The final tournament game of
the Avalon Summer Softball League
was not a disappointment last week.
Even though Catalina Express won
the coin toss, Straight Up Builders
opened the game with back to back
inside the park home runs from Josh
Flynn and Ryan Hinkley. However,
Catalina Express answered back
with a home run from AnthOny
Hernandez, which was followed by
a two RBI home run from Roberto
Martin.
In the second inning, Josh Flynn
brought home a run for Straight Up
Builders off his double to go back
on top.
Catalina Express used a base hit
and back to back walks along with
a sacrifice fly to bring home a run.
An inside the park home run
from Robert Reyes brought home
two more runs in the inning and
gave Catalina Express its first lead
of the game.
At the top of third, Straight Up
Builders' Nick Morones brought
home a run off his double and later
scored himself to keep things level.
'Later in the" inning, Catalina
Express' Robert0 Martin hit his
second home run of the night.
Martin's teammate Shawn Hall fol-
lowed with a home run of his own.
But the runs didn't stop there.
Later an error turned into a two
RBI home run for Julian Tejeda and
Anthony Hernandez followed that
with his second home run of the
night. The fourth inning defense
belonged to Mike Fekete of Catalina
Express. He made a come from
nowhere catch in the outfield to
collect the second out. He was then
in the right place at the right time
to catch a fly ball that dropped out
of the glove of Danny Hernandez
due to a game-ending injury to his
finger. Fekete and Catalina Express
took the momentum into the bottom
of the inning to score a run. Straight
Up Builders took advantage of a
short-handed eight-man team for
Catalina Express to rally for five
runs in the fifth to keep things tied
at 10 apeice.
Weston Leonhardi hit a home
run to start off the rally.
Morones hit a triple, followed by
a walk, and then Robert Ozark hit a
three RBI shot. Following that, two
base hits and an error brought home
one more.
At the bottom of the fifth,
Catalina Express used two base hits
and a sacrificed fly ball to bring
home a run, keeping a one run
advantage.
However, Builders' Johnny
Machado proved he can still cover
ground by hauling in a fly ball to
end the inning.
Straight Up Builders' Sebastian
Sanchez opened the sixth inning
with a double and would ultimately
score on a sacrifice fly ball. Julian
Tejeda was halfway to the outfield
when he stopped a ground ball and
threw out a runner.
Tejeda would stay involved at
the bottom oftheinning.
Catalina Express scored a run on
a base hit, then brought home two
more on a home run from Tejeda.
At the top of the seventla, Straight
Up Builders kept battling by bring-
ing home two more runs. Josh
Flynn had a double in the effort.
Johnny Machado again made the
highlight real~ with his play at Seer
ond for the first out. '
Catalina Express was held score-
less in the inning. With just down
one run in the eighth, Straight Up
Builders crept back to a lead with
two runs home on an error, a double
from Weston Leonhardi and a triple
from Nick Morones. In the top of
the ninth, Straight Up Builders got
their last at bat. With a runner on
first and two out, Ryan Hinkley
hit a triple to bring home a run.
Sebastian Sanchez followed with
a two RBI home run. Paul Daniel
Romo picked up the dribbler in
run
front of the plate to throw out the
runner at first for the final out.
Now trailing and with the game
on the line, Catalina Express got
their last chance.
With one out, a walk and a base
hit put two on. Mike Fekete came
up and hit the walk off single to
score two and win the game, It was
an exciting finish.
Final score: Straight Up Builders
18, Catalina Express 19.
I'111
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TImE CATALINA ~ Friday, Sept. 1, 2017 i 11 "
