Chula Vista North-Maroon’s bid for a Pony World Series championship berth fell short after the local squad dropped a 1-0 decision to Simi Youth in Tuesday’s Super Region finals in Whittier.
Two teams qualified from the Southern California Super Region tournament to compete in the West Zone tournament. Simi Youth advanced along with Super Region champion Long Beach.
Chula Vista North-Maroon qualified for the 16-team Super Region tournament by winning the Southwest Region title. The top three teams from the Southwest Region tournament, played July 13-18 in Lakeside, advanced to the Super Region. Chula Vista South (second) and Alpine (third) also advanced to the Super Region field.
In opening games played on July 28, Alpine defeated W.C. Orangewood, 4-1, while CV South dropped a 5-4 decision to Cypress A.
CV North opened play last Friday by scoring a 7-4 victory against Heartwell to advance in the winner’s bracket.
The two Chula Vista teams went 1-1 the following day. CV South remained alive in the challenger bracket by defeating W.C. Orangewood, 3-2, while CV North suffered an excruciating 2-1 setback to Long Beach, the eventual Super Region champion.
The loss dropped CV North to a bittersweet rematch against CV South on Sunday, with CV North posting a 4-0 shutout victory over their local rivals to advance to another elimination game, this time against Alpine later that same day.
CV North defeated Alpine, 9-4, to advance to Monday’s game against Cypress A (which had earlier dropped Alpine to the challenger bracket via a 12-4 victory). CV North, now the only San Diego County team remaining in the tournament, staved off elimination with a key 4-2 win over Cypress.
In order for CV North to advance to the zone finals, it needed to win two games on Tuesday. The Southwest Region champions took a huge step toward that goal by dealing Diamond Bar a 12-4 defeat. But the ensuing game against Simi Youth (a 4-2 loser to Long Beach) did not go in their favor.
A late run scored by Simi Youth eliminated the Chula Vistans.
“It was pretty much a pitchers’ duel the whole game,” CVN manager Joel Corona said. “We had two or three scoring opportunities (but) the kid from their team pitched well. We just couldn’t come up with the clutch hit.”
Hunter Pearson hurled a complete game in the loss. He was one of five CVN pitchers to post a win in the Super Region tourney, joining Andy Rios, Justin Sparby, Rob Weissenfels and Isaac Vargas.
Chula Vista North-Maroon finished the all-star tournament season 15-3, including a 5-2 showing in the Super Region tourney and a 6-1 mark in regional play. CV North went 4-0 to capture the Southwest Region South District title.
“The kids never game up in any game, including the three games we lost,” Corona said. “They showed a lot of heart and dedication.”
