Mission Viejo Off to a Fast Start

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Young Gavin Fabian got a man-size dose of grief from South Mission Viejo Manager Jim Gattis when he returned to the dugout at the conclusion of the fourth inning Monday night at the 51st Little League World Series.

Ashton White was warming up in the bullpen and Gattis made sure Fabian knew it. South Mission Viejo was clinging to a two-run lead and Gattis wasn’t happy about the three home runs Fabian had surrendered to batters from Bradenton, Fla.

“I challenged his competitiveness,” Gattis said. “I told him it was time to compete and if he didn’t, I had someone else ready.”

It took him a few more pitches, but Fabian responded. He struck out five of the final seven batters he faced to lead South Mission Viejo to a 10-6 victory over Bradenton, the Southern Region champion, in the U.S. bracket.

Mission Viejo (19-1) plays Dyer, Ind., the Central Region champion, at 11 a.m. (PST) today in the round-robin, pool-play format. Bradenton plays at 5 p.m. against Pottsville, Pa., which beat Dyer, 1-0, in eight innings Monday.

In the International bracket, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, defeated Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 3-0, and Yokohama, Japan topped Surrey, Canada, 5-1.

The top two teams in each bracket play for division titles on Thursday, with the division winners advancing to Saturday’s championship game.

The South Mission Viejo all-star team won its 11th consecutive game since being formed in June, but it gave its fidgety manager all kinds of fits. Unlike many previous Southern California Region champions, Mission Viejo doesn’t have a lineup of big bombers who can routinely clear the 204-foot fences with one swing of an aluminum bat. Instead, Mission Viejo manufacturers most of its runs and doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.

True, Mission Viejo didn’t commit an error in the field Monday, but Gattis said there were so many mental slip-ups that he spent most of his time in the dugout steaming.

“It bothered me the way we played tonight,” Gattis said. “Gavin was out of form, but I am proud of him for adapting well after the fourth inning.

“I was obviously pleased that we swung the bats for a change because we’ve been playing together for a couple of months now and it certainly hasn’t been our trademark. I feel very fortunate to have won tonight.”

At one point in the fifth inning, Gattis said he tried on three consecutive occasions to give a steal sign to White, who had reached first safely. But White did not look at Gattis, who was in the third-base coaching box. Earlier in the inning, Gattis’ son, Gary, who was on third base, was given the green light to run, but he hesitated when Nick Moore hit a slow roller to shortstop and was thrown out at the plate.

“Things like that we just don’t do,” Gattis said. “It’s all a matter of preparation and we haven’t worked on fundamentals since last Thursday and its time to get back to that.”

It’s hard to fault White, the son of 1979 Heisman Trophy winner Charles White. He went three-for-four and reached base safely all four trips to the plate Monday. He’s six-for-eight and has been on base seven times in the last two games, dating back to Friday’s 2-1 Western Region championship victory over Sunnyvale.

South Mission Viejo got nine singles Monday and stole six bases. The team took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Gattis walked, advanced to second on the first of three singles by White, stole third and then scored on a wild pitch by Bradenton pitcher Lastings Milledge.

Bradenton responded in a big way with two outs in bottom of the inning, when third baseman Joel Cacciolone hit a hanging curveball from Fabian for a towering three-run home run just inside the left-field foul pole.

“I wasn’t pitching in rhythm,” Fabian said. “I was upset after he hit that. I got the ball up high and he banged it.”

Mission Viejo scored three runs in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead, but Bradenton tied the game in the bottom of the inning.

Milledge unraveled in the fourth inning and surrendered four runs on only two Mission Viejo hits. He walked three and threw two wild pitches that led to runs.

Bradenton Manager Mike Kennedy admitted he may have waited too long to pull Milledge, the team leader. But it became necessary after Milledge hit South Mission Viejo batter Greg Oates with a pitch.

“Hindsight is always 20-20,” Kennedy said.

Fabian allowed two homers in the fourth, but calmed down after the talk from Gattis and a visit to the mound by the manager in the top of the fifth.

South Mission Viejo second baseman Chad Lucas had two singles and scored two runs, while Bradenton’s Trevor Blair singled and homered.

Gattis said he would decide today whether to start White, who has struck out 27 batters in his last two outings, against Dyer.