Cardinals Win Santana National Little League Championship

By Allyson Martini

Crack goes the bat as the teams face off for the championship game, Cardinals vs. Mariners.

It was inning number one and Cardinals were up to bat. Ryan Harr hits a line drive to the first baseman, unfortunately for the Mariners, the first baseman missed it, so Ryan is rounding the bases going to third and the ball is overthrown and it’s an in the park homerun for him. Two more innings went by and no runs were scored for any team.

Finally, in the fourth inning there was some action. Eric Boice from the Mariners smacks the ball. The stands thought it was out of the park, unfortunately it was a ground rule double. Cardinals are now up to bat. James Shaplin hits a triple! The stands went wild, it was an amazing hit to right field.

“Two-out rally here we go, get a hit,” is what the boys were chanting when there were 2 outs and bases loaded. Eric and his defense held strong and got them out of the inning. Now the Mariners are up to bat. Ryan Harr was pitching and Hunter Martini was catching. Dillon Boice was up to bat. First pitch thrown and he hits it. The third baseman Cash Creighton scoops up the ball and fires it across the long field to James on first for the out. Next batter up hits the ball on the first pitch also. Once again, Cash makes the amazing play and the runner is out at first! The next batter up struck out. It was a great inning for the Cardinals.

It was bottom of the fifth, and there was a chance for the Cardinals to get more runs.  The first batter is up to bat and strikes out. Next up, Devin Winslow draws the walk.  Then Daniel Johnson gets walked. Hunter Martini steps up to the plate and sets his feet, he has a full count on him and he battles his way to a walk. Bases are loaded, Ryan is up, the ball is pitched and the catcher misses it so Devin steals home and he is safe. Ryan is still up and he gets walked. Next up, Josh Nunez gets walked tries to steal second but gets tagged out. The score is now 4-0 Cardinals heading into the top of the 6th and final inning. Ryan Haar holds strong though.  He finished the day pitching a complete game shutout with no walks!

The Cardinals win the SNLL 2012 Minors League Championship!

At the end of the game the Cardinals and Mariners shook hands and the Mariners demonstrated good sportsmanship and did a chant wishing the Cardinals well as they advance to the District 41 Tournament of Champions (TOC). 

The Cardinals coaches recognized a few players at the end of game for outstanding performances during the game.

The first game ball went to the Pitcher, Ryan Haar. He threw 64 pitches in 6 innings with no walks and had an in the park Home Run!  The second game ball went to James Shaplin for playing hard at first base and making all the hard catches, plus he had the game opening up Triple!  The last game ball was a difficult choice. Hunter Martini received it for catching the entire game while letting very few balls getting past him.  He also managed to gun down two base runners trying to steal on him, to no avail! Cash Creighton also made the key plays at 3rd to get the Cardinals out of trouble.  As always the coaches wish they had 11 game balls to give out because it was an overall Team effort that led to victory! 

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