Friday-Saturday, July 18-19, 1958
Mom messed up and didn't save any newspaper clippings about Game 1 of the Area 4 playoffs, but from other information in the scrapbook, I was able to glean that Gary Beecher was on the mound for West Covina American Friday evening when they defeated Glendora American 8-2 at Cortez Park.
However, I do have an article and an official score sheet from Saturday's game against Covina American, and what a game it was! Our Don Bunch pitched a no-hitter! He struck out 12 of the 18 batters he faced, and would have thrown a perfecto except for walking the first batter. Greg Mulligan slammed a 2-RBI homer in the bottom of the 4th for the game's only runs.
This is a terrific photo. It's like a freeze-frame of an instant replay, and it clearly shows the umpire's pick-off call was correct, just by a fraction of an inch.
Shoddy reporting by the Tribune writer, though. Don Bunch couldn't possibly have retired "21 consecutive batters," because there are a maximum 18 outs per side in a regulation Little League game. Anyway, have a look at the official score sheet below and see for yourself that Covina American only had 18 at-bats.
Covina American..........000 000–0 0 0
West Covina American.....000 20x–2 6 0
So Area 4 champs West Covina American will face Area 3 winner Covina National when District 19 playoff action commences next Friday in Glendora.
