Rays advance to Pajaro Valley Little League title game

The Rays' Bryant Kinsella-Montes pitches in the second inning Thursday at Ruso Field in Watsonville. (Glenn Cravens/Register-Pajaronian)

WATSONVILLE — The Rays scored early and often in defeating the Cubs 17-7 on Thursday evening at Ruso Field in the consolation bracket finals of the Pajaro Valley Little League majors tournament.

With the win, the Rays advanced to the championship game, where they’ll face the unbeaten Padres. The game is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.

The Rays scored in four of the five innings played. The biggest boom came in the second inning when they trailed 7-3.

The Rays sent 13 batters to the plate and scored nine runs. The hit parade started after the first pitch of that half inning ended up being a fly out to the pitcher.

All nine batters scored in the inning, with one of the notable blows being a Bryant Kinsella-Montes bases-clearing double. Kinsella-Montes later scored on a throwing error as the Cubs were relaying the ball into the infield.

Kinsella-Montes was the long man on the mound for the Rays, going 3 2-3 innings, striking out two while allowing five hits.

He weathered the storm as best as he could, coming in relief with one out in the second inning and the Cubs already having scored twice.

The Cubs scored five runs on him, and one ball left the park, as Antonio McCraw hit a home run.

But after the seven-run inning ended, Kinsella-Montes shut down the Cubs, allowing just two hits and four base runners total the rest of the way.



For the complete article see the 06-02-2012 issue.

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