Tom Rysinski: Juniors’ win over Mountain Ridge no classic, but very special

Let the record show that I called it.

It was the top of the seventh inning in one of the wildest baseball games I’ve ever witnessed. The Pahrump Valley Little League Junior All-Stars had just suffered through one of the most awful innings imaginable, blowing a 10-3 lead by giving up 9 runs on 7 hits — mostly after there were two outs — and trailed 12-10 going into the top of the seventh of Thursday night’s District 4 Tournament game against host Mountain Ridge.

Heads were hanging as the Pahrump Valley players left the field after the debacle, but they were reminded by the coaching staff — John McHugh, Steven Whitney and Richard Swingle — that the game was not over. The bench got lively, for a while. When it died down, Austin Alvarez turned to the dugout from the on-deck circle and screamed, “Where’d you guys go?” And just like that they were back, which didn’t make the situation any less dire.

But any baseball gods that would allow a 9-run inning in the bottom of the sixth wouldn’t flinch at allowing the team that gave that up to retake the lead in the top of the seventh. A run was in — Kier Sheppard had scored on a wild pitch — and there were runners on second and third — after two walks and another wild pitch — and after a pop-up for the second out, Kayne Horibe was coming to the plate.

The Mountain Ridge manager signaled for an intentional walk, preferring to pass on facing Horibe — who had walked twice, struck out and was hit by a pitch — in favor of facing Caden Briscoe — who belted a bases-loaded double in the top of the first — with the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

And that’s when I called it.

Mountain Ridge attempted to send Horibe to first base without actually pitching four intentional balls, apparently forgetting that Little League is pretty much the only level of baseball at which you can’t just signal an intentional walk and not throw the pitches. Some of the parents sitting near me were confused and I, wanting to be helpful as always, stepped over as Horibe went back to the plate.

“Their manager was trying to avoid throwing pitches, because the way this game is going, one of those intentional balls is going to the backstop,” I said.

They laughed, not because it was an outrageous thought but because it was that kind of game and therefore likely to happen.

And oh, did it happen.

The fourth pitch sailed to the backstop, and as Horibe dashed to first base, Booey McClard, who had walked, and Alvarez, who also had walked — do you see a pattern here? — did some dashing of their own, and in the mayhem both scored to give Pahrump Valley a 13-12 lead.

The rally was improbable, but no more improbable than the way Pahrump Valley built a 10-2 lead after the top of the fifth, as much of it was done the same way the three runs in the seventh were scored, by accepting gifts from the gracious hosts.

Mountain Ridge pitchers walked 10 batters, with seven scoring, and plunked five batters, with one of them also crossing the plate. Pahrump Valley managed just 4 hits in 42 plate appearances, only two of which left the infield.

The first was Briscoe’s 3-run double with one out in the first, a blast that sailed over the right fielder’s head and scored Tristan Brown, who had walked, Antonio Whitney, who reached on an infield error and Horibe, who had walked. That last walk forced in Pahrump Valley’s first run, which was scored by Jack Walker, who had, of course, walked.

The other hit came from Dominic Wilson, who came off the bench to connect on a 2-run single to right in the fifth, scoring Briscoe, who had walked, and Vincenzo Whitney, who had been hit by a pitch. A wild throw from the right fielder scored Tyson Reddit, who had hit one of the two infield singles, and, eventually, Wilson. The bizarre outburst pushed the lead to 10-2, and the game seemed out of reach.

But this is Mountain Ridge, not just the host league but the most successful league in District 4. Of the 82 tournament titles won in District 4 since 2004, Mountain Ridge has won 32 of them, including at least one, and usually more, every year since 2005. By comparison, Pahrump Valley has won three: a seniors title in 2007 and juniors titles in 2014 and 2018.

Not only that, but Mountain Ridge always seems to have a roster filled with players on the upper end of the age limit. Actually, they look older than that, and they were certainly bigger than their opponents.

Baseball is not a sport in which size generally plays a key role, but when you saw Pahrump Valley players next to Mountain Ridge players, it was hard not to notice.

So here it was, big, bad Mountain Ridge, with some players sporting sideburns, 5 o’clock shadow and, for all we know, pending paternity suits; a league that won four of five titles in 2018 and two more in 2019; a league that reached the U.S. final of the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania back in 2014, only to lose to a team from Chicago that six months later was stripped of its title for using ineligible players; facing Pahrump Valley, which, as Donnelly put it after Wednesday’s win, is usually overlooked because of the name on their jerseys.

So of course Mountain Ridge rallied, with four consecutive singles and a sacrifice fly — the second out — starting things and a walk, a double, a single, two walks and another single capping the rally. And yet they lost.

Yes, the “we’re little Pahrump” shtick gets really, really old after a while, but sometimes it’s still reality. Nowhere is that more true than against Mountain Ridge in Little League baseball. It’s the neighborhood bully against the awkward kid who never makes it to noon with his lunch money.

And that’s why it doesn’t matter that they only managed 4 hits. That’s why all of the walks and hit batters that made up the bulk of the offense just isn’t important. It’s why allowing 9 runs in an inning and losing a 10-2 lead is simply irrelevant.

These kids rallied in the top of the seventh inning after that nightmare sixth and beat the premier Little League program in Southern Nevada. Sure, they would lose the next night to Peccole, the team that also beat them in their opener, in the tournament final, but what do you think these guys will be talking about years from now? The night they beat Mountain Ridge.

Long after the championship banner they did not get to wave after the title game has faded, those memories will be fresh and clear in the minds of the Pahrump Valley players, coaches and parents.

And that, folks, is what it’s all about.