Arizona caps unbeaten run with JLWS championship

Published: Tuesday, August 25, 2009


No doubt about it.

Mountainview (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Little League looked like the best team at the Junior League World Series the day it first took the field. It finished the same way Saturday afternoon.  The USA West representative scored three early runs and starter Grant Martinez did the rest to shut down Aruba 9-1 in the title game.  The victory, Mountainview’s 24th straight, made it the second team from the state to win the series title at Heritage Park in Taylor.

Sunnyside Little League from Tucson won the 1992 championship.   “These guys have done it all year,” Mountainview manager Steve Erickson said. “They’ve all been even-keeled.”   The team has been together for the past four seasons and it showed in the late rounds of the tournament. Mountainview rarely committed errors and played well with the lead.  “Pitching and defense have been keys for us throughout the tournament,” Erickson said.

Arizona scored the game’s first run in the second when Michael Salazar came home on a throwing error and Jimmy Ditroia made it a 4-0 game two batters later when he sent the first pitch from Francisco Taveras over the centerfield fence.  That was all Mountainview needed. Martinez had two runners on with one out in the second but got away allowing Aruba’s only run.   He allowed just five baserunners the rest of the way and only one reached second base.

“It definitely felt good to have some runs,” Martinez said. “I started to get nervous when we started warming up, but after the second inning I started to relax.”  Pinch-hitter Michael Salazar capped a four-run fifth with a two-run homer to give Mountainview even more breathing room.  Martinez finished with the win after allowing two hits and striking out two in the first 5-1/3. He also had a pair of RBIs.

“He’s been doing that all year,” Erickson said of his starter, the only 13-year-old on the team. “He throws good off-speed stuff and they seemed to have some trouble with it today.”  Reliever Ryan Riggs worked the final 1-2/3 innings and allowed just one hit.

Wilmar Imperator had the lone RBI for Aruba, which upset Puerto Rico 7-5 in the International Division title game Friday night.  “We had to use our three best pitchers (against Puerto Rico) and coming here for the first time, our goal was to win the International championship,” Aruba coach Glenda Thomas said.  “We were happy with that.”

Mountainview topped Middlebury (Ind.), the USA Central representative, 6-2 in Saturday morning’s USA Divisoin title game.  The game, originally scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday, was postponed after the International game went more than five hours. Series officials decided not to start the game at 10:30.  It didn’t bother Mountainview.  “I felt better about playing Saturday morning than I did sitting around Friday night,” Erickson said. “It really didn’t bother these kids.”  Mountainview ended the series outscoring its opponents 46-16 in six wins.