Good times continue for Little League All-Stars
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

ATTACKED BY A MOB-Daniel Delaney, middle, is engulfed by his Conejo West All-Star teammates after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning Monday against Thousand Oaks American.

Tom McNutt's three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning capped a nine-run rally Monday as the Conejo West All-Stars defeated Thousand Oaks American 12-3 in a Little League elimination game at Colina Middle School.

Although he'd been used sparingly as a reserve throughout the 11and 12-year-old tournament, McNutt's blast was as unexpected as it was emotional for Conejo West manager Mike Sheehan.

"It brings tears to my eyes," Sheehan said. "To take a boy that was voted to an All-Star team, and to be in a reserve role and able to come off the bench and hit the ball the way he's been hitting the ball, it hits me right here (pointing to his heart)."

McNutt said it was the first time he'd hit a round-tripper.

"It made me feel good because it was my first one," McNutt said. "The last couple of games I've been hitting little shots for base hits. But this one, it felt good to hit it hard."

Conejo West's Daniel Delaney was 2-for-3 with a home run, triple and five RBI.

"I haven't really done that well for the past couple days," Delaney said. "But I found my swing today, and I'm really happy about that."

Eric Sheehan picked up the victory after pitching five innings, allowing three runs and striking out seven.

"He hasn't thrown in a game situation since the regular season," the elder Sheehan said. "I'm proud of him. He stepped up."

Thousand Oaks American first baseman Trevor Gerety crushed a two-run home run in the first inning that traveled well past the center field fence. T.O. pushed across another run in the fourth inning when Trent Holland scored on an error.

Southpaw Ryan Fobes threw three strong innings for T.O. before running into trouble in the fourth inning.

Thousand Oaks American won three tournament games overall, including prevailing in an elimination game against T.O. National over the weekend.

Matt Goldfield, manager of the T.O. American team, said it was tough knocking out T.O. National, but, he added, his guys now have bragging rights for a very long time.

"It was a great game. We beat them 5-4," Goldfield said. "These players will go to high school together one day and they'll have that over them for the next 35 years."

Conejo East beats Simi

At the same time as the Conejo West vs. T.O. American game was being played, the Conejo East AllStars were busy taking down Simi Valley, 9-5, at an adjacent field.

Conejo East received a pair of home runs from Michael Shaw and another four-bagger from Matt Adreou during the victory. Eric Green pitched four innings of no-hit ball before being replaced in the late innings.

Kyle Starr and Ryan Joslin both hit home runs for Simi Valley.

"We jumped out ahead of the Simi guys but they fought hard to the very end," Conejo East manager Charlie Shaw said.

Conejo West took on Conejo East yesterday evening in an elimination game, with the winner playing Northside today at 5:30 p.m.