Deer Park 14s fall hard to NASA-Orange in Directors title game – Chron.com

By Robert Avery, ravery@hcnonline.com

Deer Park's 14-year-old All-Stars and NASA-Orange hold their post-game meeting, following the 12-2 Directors Tournament championship game setback by Deer Park.

Deer Park 14s fall hard to NASA-Orange in Directors title game

CLEAR LAKE - Just when it looked like Deer Park baseball teams could little wrong in the month of June, winning a Class 6A state title and all, an all-star team from the NASA Pony program, reminded us that there's plenty of sharks still in the water.

The NASA-Orange Pony 14-year-old All-Stars delivered a strong message Tuesday night, essentially saying they're the best around this summer as they downed the Deer Park All-Stars 12-2 in the Directors Tournament championship game at Mark Ulmer Field in Bay Area Park.

One night after scoring 16 runs against the League City All-Stars to clinch their spot in the title game, two NASA-Orange pitchers stifled Deer Park's attack on two hits. Jacob Martinez and Henry Hill combined for the two-hitter, singles by Jayden Miller and Tanner Phillips.

NASA-Orange roughed up three Deer Park hurlers for nine hits and runs in every inning of the shortened contest that was stopped in the fifth by the mercy rule. They delivered the knockout punch with a five-run fourth.

Leading the way offensively was Christian Whitehead, who had a perfect night at the plate, going 4-fof-4 and Logan Moore, who crushed a two-run homer in the third frame to stake his teammates to a 5-0 lead.

"Pitching and defense. Hands down, I think we've got more depth than most of the other teams. We've got probably three (pitchers) that hit in the mid-80s, so it makes it a little harder for the other teams to catch up to," said NASA-Orange manager Scooter Moore.

Hill, in his final two innings of work, only allowed one ball to leave the infield and that was caught by the center fielder. Otherwise, he struck out three and hit a batter.

As for the home run, Moore isn't a big fan of the long ball, even if it comes from your own son.

"The thing about home runs, and that's why we had a couple of strikeouts tonight, is they all want to hit home runs. A home run is an accident. It's a mistake. Hitting the ball with power is his job. The home run was a mistake. I'm proud of him for that, I just wish they'd all get in the rhythm of basehits. They score runs. Pop-ups are outs. Too many get underneath the ball, trying for the home run," Moore said.