Hartert escapes sixth-inning rally by the Cardinals

With bids to the District 62 Tournament of Champions at stake, postseason tournament action at Huntington Valley Little League got underway with several exciting games.

Majors Division

Dodgers 8, Cardinals 6

The Dodgers didn’t take the lead until they scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and reliever Jason Hartert was able to get out of a sixth-inning rally by the Cardinals, to complete the come-from-behind victory.

Garret Garcia hit a solo home run in the first inning and Mario Gross clubbed a three-run home run in the second inning to stake the Cardinals to an early lead.

The Dodgers scored their first run in the third behind a double by Max Davitt and singles by Matt Nathan and Anders Davis. In the fourth, the order of Jaycen Watson, Don Pierce, Kyle Crossen, Matt Levinson and Andrew Geiger hit consecutive doubles to account for four runs to tie the score at 5-5.

The Dodgers’ three-run fifth inning came via singles by Nathan and Pierce and walks to Anders Davis and Jarrett Anton.

In the top of the sixth, Blake Hollingsworth hit a solo homer to bring the Cardinals to within 8-6 and Austin Simonsen singled to continue the rally, but Hartert was able to get out of the jam.

Billy Morehouse singled twice and Garcia, Warren Brown and Chris Kircher also singled for the Cardinals.

Angels 8, Giants 3

The Giants took a 1-0 lead on a home run by Allen Marquez but the Giants went in front behind a two-run home run by Ryan Morrisey and went on to claim victory.

Hits by David Mastro, Brodie Barton, Ryan Fishel and Dillon Millar allowed the Angels to increase their lead to 5-3.

Jack Bulaich, Brad Dominick and Taylor Refice added hits for the Giants.

Kyle Johnson and Sean O’Toole pitched for the Angels.

Red Sox 6, Orioles 3

The Red Sox pulled off the upset of the tournament with a win over the No. 3-seed Orioles.

Minor B Division

White Sox 5, A’s 4

Ken Murray’s squad began postseason division play Tuesday and had to rally to turn back the last-place A’s to advance.

The A’s shocked the White Sox by scoring four runs in their first at-bat. In addition, their defense, led by third baseman Ryan Smith, didn’t allow the Sox to get on the scoreboard until the fifth.

Hits by Connor Hayes and Dylan McCarthy ignited the Sox rally in the fifth, which became real when Tyler Murray hit a three-run home run. Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Will Donald singled, stole second base and came home with the winning run when Pierson Loskas hit a line-drive double to cap the comeback victory.