Santa Fe Little League pitcher Steven Henderson pitched a complete game, three-hit shutout in leading the club to a 9-0 win over League City Little League and the Oak Tree Tournament 12s championship at the League City Sportsplex Sunday night.
The contest brought the curtain down on two days of the annual Oak Tree Tournament, a snapshot of the fast-approaching District 14 Little League Majors Tournament. Texas City, NASA Area Little League and Bayside Area Little League also participated in the 12s event.
League City Little League’s complex also hosted the Oak Tree Tournament for the all-star teams in the 10 and 11-year-old division.
Santa Fe defeated Dickinson in the semifinals, while League City overcame a 3-0 deficit to NASA to capture a 5-3 victory in its semifinal assignment earlier Sunday.
Henderson and League City Little League starting pitcher Luke Airington were matching zeroes for the opening four innings. But that’s when Santa Fe broke it open, scoring four runs in the fifth and five in the sixth.
Airington had surrendered just two singles in those opening four innings in addition to two walks and a hit batter. But none of that hurt League City’s chances as Airington forced Santa Fe to stand three in scoring position.
Meanwhile, Henderson with lots of help from his defense, specifically second baseman Ian Lloyd, just kept motoring along, never allowing one League City Little League all-star to reach scoring position all night long.
“He was phenomenal today. He’s a clutch pitcher. He’s one of our biggest assets,” Santa Fe manager Calvin Bennett said.
Catcher Avin Bennett praised his pitcher and his two best pitches.
“His pitch that gets everybody is the curveball. It’s nasty. Then he goes with the high heater. Nobody can hit it,” Bennett said.
Bennett said Henderson’s curveball Sunday night wasn’t even the best he’s seen from the righthander.
“I’ve seen better in practice,” Bennett said.
The League City Little League all-stars played a total of three games Sunday, two of them in the uncomfortable heat. Prior to the rally over NASA, the team enjoyed an easy 15-0 win over Texas City.
The team committed three errors during Santa Fe’s two uprisings. Toss in two wild pitches and it looked like League City’s all-stars were ready for a brief vacation from baseball and maybe a dip in the pool.
The top of the Santa Fe batting order ignited the fuse to the four-run fifth. Henderson reached on a first baseman’s error, Carson Sunday was hit by a pitch, ending Airington’s stint on the mound, before Calvin Van Horn reached on an infield single that loaded them up.
Clean-up hitter Max Feimster, who finished with three RBIs, plated his first two. A wild pitch scored Van Horn and a Carter Dee groundout scored Feimster.
In the sixth, Santa Fe scored two tainted runs, before Van Horn deposited a ball on the right field chalk line, upping the lead to 8-0.
Now will Santa Fe be able to carry this momentum over to the District 14 race?
“We expect to see the same people. It’s still anybody’s game. We plan on going all the way this year,” Calvin Bennett said.
In League City’s come-from-behind win over NASA, the team scored one run in the second, another in the third, and three runs in the fourth. Back-to-back doubles by Ryan Hughes and Lennon Penny tied the game at 3-3, before Penny scored on a wild pitch.
The team’s hot day started with lots of Texas City gifts, eight errors to be exact. Manager Shane Johnston’s squad sent 10 batters to the plate in the second, upping the lead to 9-0. Dylan Herd, Parker McAninch and Penny had the base hits, while Jacob McGee stole home.
In the third, a ton of errors with a ground-rule double sandwiched in between by Evan Jordan pushed home the final six runs.
GAME NOTES: In the fourth inning of Sunday night’s title game, McAninch was hit in the rib cage by a catcher’s throw down to first base and minutes later Daniel Requena-Herrera was hit in the lower back by another attempted pickoff throw from the catcher. After a minute of walking the pain off, the two stayed in the game.
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