The Falls Church-Kiwanis Little League’s All-Star teams in Virginia District 4 opened up game play last week.
The Falls Church-Kiwanis Little League’s All-Star teams in Virginia District 4 opened up game play last week.
Falls Church 9-10 All-Stars
All-Stars 15 — Great Falls 4: After an opening 12-2 loss to McLean National on June 24, the Falls Church 9-10 All-Stars rebounded with a resounding 15-4 win over Great Falls on June 25.
Robert Guenther pitched three strong innings and Zach Lang came in to pitch a flawless final inning to seal the victory. Casey Lauer and Thomas Beddow led a balanced offensive attack with three hits, three runs and two RBIs apiece. Jack Rasmussen and Robert Guenther also collected two hits and two runs for the victors. In the field, Beddow executed several stellar plays at shortstop, while Bryan Martin made a difficult catch in a sunny right field to keep Great Falls off the base paths. Falls Church opened the scoring with six runs in the first inning, thanks in part to RBI-singles from Crosby Gamble and Timmy Winters.
In the second inning, Falls Church added two more runs sparked by a lead off ground rule double by Casey Lauer. In the third inning, the lead was extended to 12-4 as Falls Church pounded out three more hits and a sacrifice fly, highlighted by Beddow’s double. Falls Church scored three more runs in the fourth inning to close out the game 15-4.
All-Stars 8 — Arlington Nationals 6: The Falls Church 9-10 All Stars won their second straight game on June 27 by edging Arlington Nationals in an 8-6 thriller.
Lang pitched five superb innings, striking out seven, while Lauer came in to get the final three outs after Arlington had loaded the bases with no one out, trailing 8-6. The offense was led by Lauer, Nick Lillis and Jack Rasmussen who had two hits each. After falling behind 2-1, Falls Church’s Crosby Gamble delivered the biggest hit of the game during a four-run third inning outburst. Gamble stroked a two-strike fastball to right center field for a two-RBI double that gave Falls Church a lead they would not relinquish. Martin then followed-up with a clutch RBI single to extend the Falls Church lead. Falls Church closed out their scoring in the fifth inning when Rasmussen singled in Connor Freeman from second base after Freeman had led off the inning with a single of his own. The win would not have been possible without the outstanding field play of Lauer at catcher and Martin at third base; both made numerous plays to shut down Arlington Nationals’ offense. The Falls Church 9-10 All Stars are now 2-1 in All-Star pool play.
– Kurt Rasmussen
Falls Church 10-11 All-Stars
All-Stars 5 — McLean American 6: After a tough loss in their opening game against the Vienna American team, the 10-11 All-Stars came back to play a close, exciting game against McLean American, losing 6-5 in an extra innings heart-breaker.
McLean American posted an early lead, scoring three runs in the first inning, but the Red battled back in the top of the second, scoring two on Ted Terwilliger’s RBI-double to left and Johnny Peterson’s RBI-single to shortstop. McLean scored two more in the bottom of the second, but the Red continued to press. Jamie Handley hit a big double to center, and then scored on Marsden Davis’s sacrifice fly to center.
In the top of the fourth, Johnny Peterson brought home Mikey Winters with an RBI-double.
Then, in the top of the sixth, Justin Trainor scored on Jamie Handley’s sacrifice, to even the score at five apiece. But McLean was able to score in the bottom of the seventh to seal their win. Logan Nesson, Josh Rankin and Johnny Peterson all had solid outings for the Reds.
— Lisa Ferguson
Falls Church 11-12 All-Stars
All-Stars 6 — Vienna 12: The 11-12 team opened its tournament play on Monday, June 29, against a very tough, hard-hitting team from Vienna. Although F.C. Red ended up losing 12-6, they continued to battle until the very last out. Defensive highlights included a web-gem double play executed by short stop Christopher Meador and second baseman Evan Davis.
Right fielder Daniel Donovan brought the home crowd to its feet when he fired a rocket on the fly to third base to nail an unsuspecting Vienna runner. Offensive stalwarts for Falls Church included George de Mars, who ripped a two-run home run to center, the first of his Little League career. Ben Torpe had two hits, and Patrick Evans and Daniel Butler each singled. Ryan Leonard blasted a double to the center field fence, and Sam Selby added a two-RBI double.
— Steve Selby
