For the first time since their opening game at the BC Little League Majors provincial championships, the Coquitlam All-Stars didn’t need late-inning heroics. But they did need some in the first two innings of their semifinal game against Dunbar.
The All-Stars spotted the team from East Vancouver/North Burnaby three runs in the top of the first inning, then fought back two runs of their own in each of their first two at-bats to spark an 8-3 win, Saturday at Hillcrest Park in Vancouver.
The win means Coquitlam will try to win their first provincial championship since 2006 on Sunday, when they face the host team, Little Mountain, at 12 p.m.
Hastings sent six batters to the plate in the top of the first hitting. They collected three runs on two hits off Coquitlam’s starting pitcher, Piero Leon Carney.
But as they had for much of the tournament, the plucky team of 11- and 12-year olds from Coquitlam battled back, collecting two runs on four hits including a double by slugger Matthew Shanley.
Leon Carney settled down in the second inning, facing just four batters.
That allowed his teammates to take the lead when they scored two more runs in their half of the second inning.
Neither team scored in the third inning. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, the All-Stars exploded for four runs on three hits and an error.
Timothy Piasentin took the mound for the final two innings. He struck out three Hastings batter, allowed one hit and no runs to earn the save.
But Piasentin biggest contribution was at the plate, as he drove in five of Coquitlam’s runs on two hits.
In the other semifinal, Little Mountain defeated Dunbar, 1-0.
Coquitlam defeated Little Mountain in the preliminary round, 10-9, on a dramatic walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning by Shanley.
