They’ve shown they can win by blowout margins and they’ve now shown they can win close games, so is there any stopping Sweetwater Valley Little League’s 12U all-star team from reaching even greater heights?
“The main goal has been to reach the Western Region tournament,” explained SVLL manager Ward Lannom following Wednesday’s dramatic come-from-behind 7-4 victory in seven innings over Oceanview to capture the Southern California-South Sub-Division III championship tournament at Ladera Ranch Little League.
“We’re now going to focus on Saturday’s game, but our ultimate goal, of course, is to reach Williamsport.”
With its third consecutive postseason championship banner now in its firm possession, Section 7 champion Sweetwater Valley (10-0) advances to this weekend’s Southern California Division III championship tournament against Southern California-North Sub-Division III winner Manhattan.
The teams’ best-of-three series gets under way Saturday, Aug. 1, at Ontario Western Little League. The second game is scheduled Sunday, Aug. 2, and, if necessary, a third game would be played Monday, Aug. 3. All games are scheduled to start a 6 p.m.
The Division III champion advances to the Western Region tournament in San Bernardino, which is one step removed from the Little League World Series.
Manhattan defeated Sherman Oaks South, 11-9, also in seven innings on Wednesday to clinch its sub-division series.
Lannom noted this is the farthest any Sweetwater Valley all-star team has ever advanced in 55-plus years. The team’s best games could lie ahead.
The subdivision title game against Oceanview certainly offered a preview.
Wednesday’s game turned out to be the hairiest so far for the District 42 champions, who had become accustomed to ending games by the 10-run mercy rule. When Antonio Andrade hit the first pitch of the game for a home run off Oceanview pitcher Shane Stafford, it looked like another rerun was on order.
But the Sweetwater Valley Wrecking Crew’s early 2-0 advantage quickly turned into a 2-2 standoff, a 4-2 deficit and then a 4-4 deadlock against the Section 10 champions.
“I thought that might happen after we got out to a 2-0 lead in the first,” Lannom said.
Instead, the game evolved into everything a championship contest entails – excellent pitching, clutch hitting and timely defense.
Mixed in were some untimely errors by both teams, which made things even more interesting.
“I tell the kids that most games are lost rather than won,” the SVLL manager said. “We made some errors to let them back in the game or we might have won in six innings. But the kids showed heart. We fought for it at the end.”
When it came to clutch time, Sweetwater Valley delivered. Oceanview relief pitcher Cole Kaplan got two quick outs to start the top of the seventh inning before the Section 7 champions went on to score three runs on two hits.
Jake Baptista was hit by a pitch and then advanced to second base on a wild pitch with SVLL starting pitcher Dante Schmid at the plate. Schmid hit a ball down the third base line for what was initially ruled a double to bring home Baptista. But the Oceanview manager contested the call and, after an umpires’ review, the call was reversed to a foul ball.
Schmid, back at the plate, worked the count to 3-2 before he hit a liner up the middle. The play went to the plate where the Sweetwater Valley runner was safe.
Ari Armas followed with a walk and Nick Maldonado drove a low smash through the right side to bring home two more runners when the throw home was high and got away.
“Dante did a really good job staying focused,” Lannom explained. “If you hit the ball hard, good things can happen. Our seventh and eighth hitters delivered. It’s nice to know that we can strike from anywhere in the lineup.”
Andrade replaced Schmid on the mound in the bottom of the fourth inning. He struck out the side in the bottom of the sixth inning and chalked up two more strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh inning to close out the SVLL victory.
“Antonio did a fantastic job, he was on fire (on the mound),” the SVLL manager said. “It was nice to see him get that final strikeout (to end the game).”
After Andrade opened the game with a home run, Levi Mendez drew a walk and later scored on a single by Walker Lannom.
Oceanview tied the game on a two-run home run by Micah Blake and went ahead by tacking on two more runs in the bottom of the third inning. Tristan Kennedy hit a seeing-eye single to score the go-ahead run and Oceanview took a 4-2 lead on an ensuing wild pitch.
The lead Oceanview runner reached base on a fielding error to start the inning and things got worse when runners were called safe on an attempted fielder’s choice. A one-out single by Blake then loaded the bases.
Sweetwater Valley scored two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Baptista was hit by a pitch, moved to second base on a passed ball and scored on an RBI single by Schmid. With two outs, Andrade came through with an infield single to tie the score.
Stafford, Oceanview’s ace, was dominant early in the game, retiring eight SVLL hitters in a row at one point. But Schmid held his own with eight strikeouts in three innings on the hill.
Defense also helped out. Sweetwater Valley threw out a runner at the plate to end the bottom of the fifth inning.
Sweetwater Valley finished with 10 hits in Wednesday’s game.
In winning the league’s first sub-division title, Sweetwater Valley erased some demons by defeating both Oceanview and Section 6 champion Encinitas (6-2 in Monday’s semifinals) – the teams that eliminated SVLL at this level last year.
YOUTH BASEBALL SCOREBOARD
Sweetwater Valley Little League 12U All-Stars
California District 42 champions
California Section 7 champions
Southern California South Division III champions
Southern California Division III champions
United States Western Regional tournament
Chula Vista American Little League 11U All-Stars
California District 42 champions
California Section 7 champions
Southern California South Division III champions
Southern California Division III runner-up
Chula Vista South PONY-13 All-Stars
San Diego Section champions
Southwest Region champions
Super-Region champions
United States West Zone champions
PONY-13 World Series champions
