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If a team is going to be successful at any level of Little League against a team from South Korea, you must cash in on any chance you get.
That's exactly what the team from Danville did Sunday night, beating West Seoul Little League in the championship game of the Little League Intermediate World Series 5-2.
Jacob Quinto spun a wonderful game from the mound and the opportunistic offense from Danville scored in five of their six innings in a game shown on ESPN2 from Max Baer Field in Livermore.
Quinto went 6.1 innings before hitting his pitch count, scattering six hits and striking out eight. Preston Pera came on to get the final two outs.
When Danville got to bat, the locals did whatever they needed to score.
In the bottom of the first, Danville survived a batting-out-of-order infraction when Carter Tong hit one spot sooner than he should.
The out was called on Anthony DeVito who was scheduled to be the hitter, and Tong was sent back to the plate for a second time in the inning.
Tong wasted no time, drilling a single to left that scored leadoff hitter Dario Boban to make it 1-0.
If that seemed bizarre, in the third, Danville struck out five times in the inning, but a pair of dropped third strikes allowed two batters to reach base.
A hit-by-pitch and a pair of wild pitches allowed Danville to get their third run on the game.
Leading 4-0 in the top of the sixth, Quinto made his lone mistake when Han Minyong hit a two-run shot over the fence in left — his fourth in two games — and the lead was cut in half.
Danville got that run back in the bottom of the inning, and Quinto and Pera closed the door in the top of the seventh for the win.
Pera was a monster at the plate in the tournament, going 10-for-14 over the four-game stretch.
Quinto finished the tournament with a pair of wins in three appearances, pitching 11.1 innings, giving up just 10 hits and striking out 17 batters.
