Alpine suffers first loss in West Region marathon

But, oh what a performance by Alpine reliever Bodhi Bedner. You know the old adage? It ain’t if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. Alpine’s wheeling and dealing left-hander personified that saying by entering with the bases loaded and two outs in the second inning, only to stop the show by firing 5 1/3 hitless innings — and on a nationally televised ESPN game, no less.

“Locked in right away,” Bedner said. “I felt it from the first pitch.”

It was a tall order as Bedner entered the game with Honolulu leading 3-0, and the meat of the order due up. Alpine ace Nolan Levinson saw firsthand what that part of the order could do, as Honolulu sent eight batters to the plate during a three-run first, highlighted by a booming two-run home run by No. 3 hitter Hulili Kauahikaua.

Bedner entered with the bases full of Honolulu runners, and Kauahikaua on deck. Alpine’s southpaw — who hasn’t pitched since Saturday, July 19, in the opening game of the Northern California tournament — induced a groundout to first to retire the side. He went on to allow just three batters to reach base, walking two and hitting one, while striking out 12.

“The only reason we’re even in the game is because Bodhi was unbelievable,” Alpine manager Dave Levinson said. “And especially against a lineup like that, which is just hunting fastballs. So, his curve ... he has a nasty lefty curve ... and when he’s throwing it for a strike, like we saw, this is a team that might go to the Little League World Series, and ... he pitched a no-hitter.”

Honolulu countered with two dominant right-handers, who were unbelievable as well. Alpine rallied back against Honolulu staring pitcher Logan Brokaw, scoring twice in the third and tying in the fourth on a two-out, two-strike RBI single from Garrett Weiss.

But Brokaw bounced back, finishing out the fourth with a strikeout. He went on to work 5 1/3 innings, and from the third strike of the punch-out to end the fourth, the tenacious righty threw 15 straight strikes to keep from maxing out his pitch count until the sixth inning.

Then right-hander reliever Mason Mitani brought the heat, painting the corners with heavy velo and downward tilt to set down the first five batters he faced. He finished it out by retiring seven of Alpine’s last eight hitters.

“He was pumping hard,” Dave Levinson said. “Really good location. He really located away well — and we’re ready for it, we’re looking for it — but if it’s black away, it’s tough.”

And, boy, did both teams reward their pitchers with some brilliant defense.

Alpine shortstop Patrick Breslin set the tone by getting dirty for a diving defensive gem in the sixth. Bedner had already retired Kauahikaua the first time he faced him with a called third strike in the third. The next time around, Kauahikaua led off the sixth with a hard shot toward the middle of the infield, but Breslin tackled it like a cat and popped to his knees to fire a throw across the infield to get Kauahikaua by a quarter of a step.

Then, with the ghost runner in effect in extra-innings, Alpine had two potential RBI hits taken away from them.

“A good chance for a hit, both of those,” Dave Levinson said.

With a runner at third and two outs in the seventh, Derek Armstrong hit an identical grounder to the one Kauahikaua hit over the middle, and Honolulu’s shortstop Dayten Ordenstein returned the favor by making a full-extension dive and an amazing grab, then gunning to first for an emotional third out.

In the eighth, Alpine’s Teddy Hourigan looked to cash in with the ghost runner on second, and squared up a two-out, two-strike fastball to whack a tailing line drive to right. But Honolulu right fielder Evan Crawford, who was shading toward the line, got a tremendous first step and trucked about 10 steps to his right to make a diving grab across his body to again deny Alpine.

“You don’t even want it to have to come down to that type of thing,” Dave Levinson said. “Their pitchers pitched really well, but we had a lot of strikeouts, and we were behind on the ball. And I think our approach needs to get a little better. If you don’t get a lot of hits, it’s hard to win. And you have to kind of hope that the ones you do get are enough.”

Honolulu’s pitchers racked up 15 strikeouts, 11 for Brokaw and four for Mitani.

Nolan Levinson was making his 10th start of the summer through 13 of Alpine’s games, and his fifth in a row. He got greeted in the bottom of the first by a ground ball with eyes that trickled through the right side of the infield for a Brokaw single. That set the stage for Kauahikaua’s big two-run blast on a hanging curveball, middle-middle. But Kauahikaua’s take on the pitch before with a 1-2 count on a fastball just below the knees earned him the chance for the kill shot — and he did not miss it.

Honolulu prolonged the rally to load the bases with a single from Bronson Fermahin, and back-to-back walks by Shane Bunag and Ordenstein. Then Crawford produced an RBI fielder’s choice to make it 3-0.

“They were so good,” Bedner said. “They raked off our best pitcher. So, when I came in, I knew just needed to try to shut ’em down, throw some good off-speeds.”

Riding Bedner’s resurgence on the mound, Alpine clawed back, turning over the batting order during a two-run third. Hourigan led off with a walk, and Simeon Ouellette-Massiou roped a single to center. Then Dylan Dossola got Alpine on the board with a sharp grounder that glanced off the second baseman’s backhand attempt for an RBI single. Nolan Levinson then drove home Ouellette-Massiou with an RBI groundout to cut the deficit to 3-2.

There was a scary moment between innings when Armstrong, Alpine’s catcher, had a warmup pitch bounce up and hit him in the neck. Armstrong came off the field for a half inning, but returned in the fourth, and caught the remainder of the game.

In the fourth, Kogan Flannery reached on an infield error to start the inning. After two straight wild pitches moved him to third, Weiss cashed in with a single to right to tie it 3-all.

“We didn’t get down,” Dave Levinson said. “They didn’t get down until ... the run scored in the eighth — and then they were a little down, understandably.”

Bedner finished with 82 pitches, throwing 50 for strikes. The big, bending curveball — a pitch Bedner said he learned from watching a YouTube video when he was 10 — was like kryptonite to Honolulu’s superhero fastball hunters.

In the bottom of the eighth, though, Honolulu never had to swing the bat. With Kobe Lumford the ghost runner at second, Kuana Payanal stepped to the plate with small ball on his mind. He took a fastball to the backstop to advance Lumford on a wild pitch. Then Payanal squared to bunt, and Bedner uncorked another wild pitch, allowing Lumford to race home with the walk-off run.

“That might have been the hardest pitch he threw,” Dave Levinson said. “I think he was just a little fired up, and he saw the bunt, and it might have affected him a little bit. But totally understandable at his age, and an amazing job.”

Alpine now finds itself in an elimination bracket for the first time this summer. They will return to the Little League Western Region Complex on Wednesday to take on Southern California champion Golden Hill at 6 p.m. The winner will advance to play Honolulu in Thursday’s championship game. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.

“I think we’re going to bounce back and play great,” Bedner said, “and Golden Hill is a great team, but I think we’re going to be able to battle and hopefully get the win.”