Giants win Little League crown

BY DARRELL MOODY

Appeal Sports Writer

When Giants pitcher T.J. Thomsen took the mound in Thursday night's Carson City Little League championship game against the Orioles, it was a man facing boys.

Thomsen, using mostly a fastball, struck out 17 and allowed just two hits to pitch the Giants to an easy 8-1 victory at Governor's Field.

The win gave the Giants a 19-6 record for the season, including three straight in the post-season tournament.

"We played great as a team," said Giants coach Todd Thomsen. "Everybody played really well together. The first two practices were kind of rough because everybody was new because of the re-draft.

"He (T.J.) threw about 95 percent fastballs. That performance was probably in the top five for the season, but given the importance of the game I would say this rates No. 1 in my book and his book."

The effort by the younger Thomsen certainly didn't surprise Orioles coach Jim Andrews.

"We knew it was coming," Andrews said. "We had our ace (Jace Zampirro) and they had theirs. T.J. is a special player. Jace has been dominant this year. I thought he did a great job."

Zampirro only allowed four hits and fanned nine. Only four of the runs were earned, as two fifth-inning errors led to four unearned runs.

The biggest difference between the two hurlers was control. The younger Thomsen didn't get stuck in a lot of deep counts and didn't walk a batter, while Zampirro walked three batters, all of whom scored. Zampirro was helped by two nice defensive plays by shortstop Zach Andrews.

"He (Zampirro) was going deep in the count to some batters he shouldn't have," Andrews said. "He was hitting his spots. They were very selective at the plate."

Zampirro walked Josiah Pongasi and Thomsen to start the game and both scored. Each stole a base before scoring on a wild pitch and passed ball, respectively.

"We're very aggressive, and we have been from day one," coach Thomsen said. "If you don't run, you don't cause errors."

That would prove to be more than enough cushion for the hard-throwing Thomsen, who fanned the first nine batters on just 38 pitches.

The Giants extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the third when Nick Forbes singled to left and went all the way to third on a throwing error. Pongasi followed with a run-scoring infield single, as P.J. White made a diving stop to keep the ball in the infield. After Pongasi was caught stealing, Thomsen walked, stole second and eventually stole home.

Thomsen lost his perfect game and no-hitter in the top of the fourth.

Shane Andrews, the Orioles' 10-year-old catcher, doubled to left. It actually should have been a single, but the Giants outfield was pulled around to the right and Andrews easily made it to second. Thomsen struck out the next two hitters looking, and was poised to get out of the inning. Ben Allbritten followed with a soft liner to short center to score Andrews with the Orioles' only run of the game.

After Allbritten's single, Thomsen struck out five of the next six hitters to end the game. The last out, a roller to first by Zampirro represented the only non-strikeout. Seventeen of the 18 outs were strikeouts.

Zampirro was the victim of an unreliable defense in the fifth. Reagan Foster and Forbes both reached on errors. Thomsen drove in a run with a single, and two batters later, Archie Redmond singled off Allbritten's glove to make it 6-1. The other two runs came across on wild pitches.

Thomsen, Pongasi, Forbes and Raymond had a hit apiece for the Giants, and Shane Andrews and Allbritten managed a hit apiece for the Orioles.

MINOR DIVISION

Giants 11, Yankees 7

The Giants bolted to an 8-1 lead after three innings, and then had to hold off a late charge by the Yankees.

Kyle Krebs led the Giants with three singles. Tommy Gall and Tez Allen each collected a double and single, while Bebop Martinez and Anthony Membreno each singled twice.

Kristian Hollaway and Bryce Moyle each singled for the Yankees.

- Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281