July 27, 2003

Rounders Claim SoCal ASA Alliance title Saturday, Win Final Tournament of the Season

The El Segundo Rounders clinched the top spot in the So Cal ASA Alliance on Saturday, by winning their third game, while runner up Genesis went 2-1 on the day and was mathematically eliminated from claiming the top spot.    On Sunday, the Rounders won three straight games to cap a perfect 6-0 weekend, and win the final Alliance tournament of the season.

On Sunday, the Rounders topped the So Cal Rebels in the quarter finals, Santana Concrete in the semis, and San Diego Fastpitch 4-0 in the championship game.  Mitch Mendenhall was the winning pitcher in the first and last game of the day on Sunday, with perhaps his finest effort of the season in the championship game.  He needed it, as Dan Zupp matched him pitch for pitch, with the Rounders clinging to a 1-0 lead going into the sixth inning.  The Rounder got a leadoff triple by Don Jewett in the 4th and a leadoff double by Eric Geierman in the 5th, but were unable to bring them home, as Zupp turned it up a notch.

In the Rounders' 6th, Rounders shortstop Danny Roberts delivered a clutch two out RBI single, to pad the Rounder's lead to 2-0.  Mark Villalobos followed Roberts with a two run home run over the left fielder's head to run the score to 4-0.

San Diego did not go quietly though, getting the leadoff man on in the bottom of their 6th.  Mitch Mendenhall made one of the games best plays, diving on his stomach to snare a San Diego bunt, then came up throwing back to first, for the double play.

Santana Concrete and Palm Springs were the other two semifinalists.