Crack of the Bat
by Blaine Clemmens
Game #1 - Royal 8 vs Black 7 - Clor Dominates Black
Game #1 of the 2006 Perfect Game California Games was won by the Royal team with furious three-run rally in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Royal was down 7-3 after seven innings, but they put up two runs in the bottom of the eighth and that three spot in the ninth to stun the Black team.
Catcher Travis Tartamella entered the game in the 5th inning (Los Osos HS, committed to Pepperdine) and eventually produced the game winning hit for Royal when he drove a double into and through the right centerfield gap with two runners on. For the game Tartamella was 2-3 with two doubles, those two RBI, and two runs scored. It was also Tartamella that started the two-run rally in the eighth when he scorched a lead-off double down the left field line.
The winning pitcher for Royal was senior right-hander Tom Filip (Granite Hills HS). In two innings of work Filip struck out four, including the last two hitters after a one out double in the top of the ninth. Some poor defense in the eighth led to two Black runs off of Filip, though both were unearned.
Royal starting pitcher Yasser Clor ('06 RHP, Wilcox HS) was the most impressive pitcher in the series. Clor went three innings and gave up no runs, one hit, while striking out four. Only one ball left the infield against the hard throwing Clor (89-92 mph). After his three innings of work the Royal was up 3-0, but a four-run fourth inning by Black against senior right-hander Dylan Slocum (Paloma Valley HS) changed all of that.
The Black rally in the fourth started with a walk to senior catcher Jared Jordan (L/R, Canyon Springs HS). Jarred Frierson followed Jordan and drove him in with a double. Frierson was then driven in on an infield single by Luis Tovar. Scott Schauer was next up and he singled, followed by a walk to Matt Jaimes. Brett Krill then came to the plate and sharply singled up the middle to score both Tovar and Schauer. Slocum settled down and retired the next two htters on a flyball to centerfield and a strikeout to end the inning.
Senior lefty Paul Applebee (Damien HS) came on in relief of Slocum after a leadoff walk in the top of the fifth inning and turned in three solid innings, keeping his team in striking distance. In his three innings of work Applebee punched out six batters while giving up a run on two hits. Two base on balls and a hit batsman in the sixth inning contributed to the run he gave up.
As for the efforts on the mound for Black, junior right-hander Daniel Duran was stellar in his three innings of work. From the 5th-7th he gave up zero runs, allowing only one hit, a couple of walks and no more than one runner in each of his three innings.
There were some strong offensive performers for each team. Five hitters had two-hit games, including: Royal - Chris Parmelee (2-3, 2B, BB, R), Freddie Freeman (2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI); Black - Luis Tovar (2-3, BB, RBI, 2 R), Brett Krill (2-3, 4 RBI, HBP), and Sequoyah Stonecipher (2-4, 2 3B). Other players with extra base hits were Nick Noonan (3B) and Alek Diachenko (2B).
Both of Freeman's doubles drove in a run, including his blast high off the scoreboard in that two-run eighth for the Royal. PG fans and followers have neither seen nor heard much of Freeman in the last year, but rest assured, you will in 2006. He is among the top 2-3 hitters in the '07 class and doesn't yet appear to be even close to being as physical as he is going to be in the coming years.
Stonecipher, Vitters, Krill, and Noonan all showed impressively with the bat, both in the game and in the BP rounds prior to the game. In those BP rounds Vitters was far and away the most impressive, launching a few prodigious home runs and showing off his very impressive bat speed.