Thriller at Ford Field: Mathews Carlsen tops Morey's for Alpine title

Mathews Carlsen Body Works won the Alpine-West Menlo Little League championship June 22 by defeating defending champion Peninsula Building Materials (Morey's) 5-3 at Ford Field in Portola Valley.

A year ago, Morey's won the title by defeating Matthews Carlsen 4-3.

The Mathews Carlsen team won the league's National Division title with a regular season record of 17-5. Morey's won the American Division top spot with a regular season record of 21-1, the lone loss coming at the hands of Mathews Carlsen.

Both teams had advanced to the championship game through a four-team, double-elimination playoff, with each team having won one and lost one to the other on their way to the deciding game.

Mathews Carlsen drew first blood in the championship game when Michael Jorgenson hit the second pitch off the starting Morey's hurler Dominic De Ricco for a home run to give MC a 1-0 lead.

Derek Cappiello, starting pitcher for MC, cruised through the first three innings, giving up no runs and two hits, and retiring nine of the 11 batters he faced.

De Ricco recovered from a shaky first inning, retiring the next six batters in order before handing the ball over to Evan Loewy to start the fourth with the score still 1-0.

Cappiello continued into the fourth for MC and promptly served up a game-trying home run to Morey's Peter Hogue. After the next batter was hit by a pitched ball, MC brought in its No. 1 pitcher David Klein, who put out the fire when an Alex Markiewicz single to left was fielded by Tommy Eisberg who hit cutoff man Derek Cappiello who threw a strike to catcher Michael Jorgenson who put the tag on Douglas Wigley trying to score from second.

Both teams were retired uneventfully in the fifth inning, setting the stage for the sixth inning fireworks.

For MC, Michael Jorgenson led off with a walk and reached third on a passed ball and wild pitch. David Klein was intentionally walked and Derek Cappiello earned a walk as well to load the bases with one out.

With the infield playing in to stop the go-ahead run, Sean Jordan hit a grounder that was misplayed and one run was in. Nathan Mazonson then hit another infield ground ball that was also misplayed, scoring Klein. Evan James then hit a single up the middle, scoring Cappiello and Jordan and staking MC to a 5-1 lead with three outs to go.

In the bottom of the sixth Morey's answered with singles from Peter Hogue and Jason Brownstein before Klein retired the next two batters. Alex Markiewicz then hit his third single of the day, scoring Hogue who had advanced to third.

Matt Brownstein then singled his brother Jason home, bringing Trevor Lathrop to the plate with runners at first and second, two out, and MC ahead 5-3. Lathrop worked Klein for a full count, fouling off a crucial two-strike pitch before Klein finally struck him out to end the game.

This was Mathews Carlsen's first championship and ended Morey's string of consecutive titles at five.

It was a game with all the ingredients to make it a classic in Alpine history: longball, defense, pitching, pressure, comebacks and even a few controversial calls.

The players thrilled an overflow crowd that cheered both teams when it was over.