Big Chuy advances to Nogales LL title game

An action-packed 7-6 Big Chuy victory on Thursday set the stage for Friday’s Nogales National Little League 9-10 Division championship game.

By jumping on Real Value Produce (11-9) early and hitting the breaks before a rally sent the game into extra innings, Big Chuy (12-8-1) earned the chance to vie for the post-season title.

They will play the winner of tonight’s game between No. 1-ranked HM Distribution (16-1-2) and OMEGA (9-9-1).

A strange twist of fate, however, gave Big Chuy that winning margin.

In the top of the fourth inning, during a broken play, RVP manager Chris Felix attempted to call timeout. With the ball still live and the play ongoing, it was not granted and an aggressive running Oscar Lechuga crossed the plate for what would eventually put Big Chuy over the top.

Lechuga also nailed an RBI single earlier in the inning, but it was his 11-strikeout performance in four and two-third innings on the mound that cemented his team’s playoff future.

“I just focused on the mitt and relaxed, and tried to throw my best,” Lechuga said. “It was one of my better games. I never threw so many strikeouts.”

Of those 11 Ks, eight of them came in a row during the middle frames, frustrating RVP batters.

“But we weren’t intimidated,” said RVP coach Chris Felix. “We jumped on him in the first inning with that one run, but then he struck out my three, four and five batters. He just shut us down the first three or four inning, but we fought back like a championship team does. Good caliber kids will put up that fight.”

Before the near-comeback, though, Big Chuy’s Jacob Morain and Jesus Lopez Jr. combined for three RBIs in the top of the third, giving them a two run lead.

Lopez Jr. went 3-for-3 on the night.

“It feels good bringing in those runs,” he said. “Last year we didn’t make it to the finals and this year we did, so we’re real happy.”

Four runs in the top of the fourth, including another RBI by Morain, made Big Chuy even happier �” and it gave the team just enough cushion to pull the game out.

“It was surprising and exciting,” Morain said. “I haven’t hit that many (RBIs) in the this whole season.”

By the end of the fourth inning, though, with Alec Acevedo relieving a tiring Lechuga, RVP pounced with five unanswered runs on RBIs from Pablo Martinez, Ralph Padilla (2) and Luis Ramirez (2).

Heading into the inning, “I told them that ‘we have nothing to lose,’” Felix said. “‘If we want to win this game, we have to start hitting.’ So, my kids started believing in themselves and their bats. Slowly but surely, the kids that got the hits got them when we needed it. It just wasn’t enough �- but it made for an exciting night. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The two teams have battled like that all season long, though, with Big Chuy winning three close ones of the five they played in the regular season. So, it was no surprise that Thursday’s game was such a nail-biter.

“They have very good players,” said Big Chuy skipper Jesus Lopez Sr. “It was a pitching duel at the beginning there, and we got on top quick so that helped out a lot.”

When asked about the possibilities of Friday’s championship game against tonight’s winner, Lopez Sr. summed up the opposition saying, “OMEGA’s a young team that has some fighters with them, and HM has a great team with great players.

“HM would be the favorite, but we have good corps pitching that we are going to rely on for the end, and our bats have been alive. I also think we have one of the better defenses in the league, too, which helps. There’s this saying that defense wins championships and offense wins games, so we have to rely on that.”

Tonight’s game is slated to start at 5:30 p.m. at Nogales National Little League Park off of Morley Avenue in Nogales.