The crack of the bat, balls flying out of the yard and runners crossing the plate. The road to the Little League World Series has ended for 12U all-star teams from South County District 42 and East County District 41 out of hundreds of teams across the United States, as well as internationally, in a bid to finish their seasons at iconic South Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 16-27.
District 42 champion Eastlake Little League ended its road to the Little League World Series after eight games (six win, two losses), bowing out in the California Section 7 tournament, while District 41 champion Alpine American Little League played 10 games (eight wins, two losses) before it finally tasted elimination in the Southern California divisional tournament.
Little League Baseball includes teams from 10U to Senior divisions for summer all-star play.
Sweetwater Valley Little League advanced both its district champion 10U and 11U all-star teams to the Southern California divisional tournaments.
The 10U tournament took place July 22-30 at Eastvale Little League while the 11U tournament took place July 22-30 at Newmark Little League in San Bernardino.
The 10U SVLL team won its opening game in the 10-team event by defeating District 37 champion Del Ray by a score of 3-2 on July 23. However, the reigning Section 7 champions could not remain in the winners bracket with back-to-back losses to District 33 champion San Carlos (6-5 on July 26) and District 68 champion Ladera Ranch (15-3 on July 27) to end play in the double-elimination tournament.
San Carlos finished runner-up to District 56 champion Golden Hill in the championship game following an 8-3 setback.
SVLL’s 11U all-stars won their opening two games in divisional play by defeating District 28 champion Temecula and District 40 champion Sherman Oaks by scores of 8-5 on July 22 and 7-5 on July 25, respectively.
The two victories advanced the Section 7 champions to the tournament semifinals. But the road to the championship game stalled there after the District 42 champions absorbed back-to-back losses to District 20 champion Claremont, 6-2, on July 27 and District 36 champion Palos Verdes, 7-1, on July 28.
Claremont and Palos Verdcs would play a two-game series to determine this year’s division champion. Palos Verdes won the first game, 1-0, on July 29 to hand Claremont its first loss in the tournament but Claremont came back to post an 8-7 victory in the double-elimination game on July 30.
Sweetwater Valley Little League president Arturo Maldonado termed the league’s 10U and 11U all-star teams’ intrepid journey this summer “exciting.”
“Our players did a fantastic job,” he said.
Maldonado, who serves as the 11U team’s manager, said it was key for his team to win its opening two games in the 10-team field.
“It was huge,” he said. “We won our first game on Saturday and then didn’t have to play again until that following Tuesday. When we won on Tuesday, it pushed us to the semifinals on Thursday.”
A win in the semifinals would have pushed the SVLL 11s into the championship running against whichever team emerged from the challenger bracket.
Sweetwater Valley finished third among the 10 teams in the 11U divisional bracket and tied for fifth among the 10 teams in the 10U divisional bracket.
The SVLL 10U all-star roster included Tempi Tran, Brandon Arellano, Steven Carlos, Ezekiel Winnick, Isaac Selga, Sebastian Pino, Andrew Iniguez, Liam Alto, Emi Kish, Cruz Dickinson, Hedley Ludlow and Nico Oani.
The SVLL 11U all-star roster included Stryder Tran, David Mendoza, Moises Miramontes, Cesar Valdivia, Adam Bailey, Emiliano Carrillo, Johnny Maldonado, Zeus Ferro, Clark Walrath, Parker Crawford, Aaron Aguiliera and Cooper Hernandez.
District 36 champion El Segundo will represent Southern California in the upcoming Little League World Series Western Region tournament after defeating District 40 champion Sherman Oaks Southern, 3-2, in the championship game of the 12U division.
El Segundo and Sherman Oaks played two games in the finals. Sherman Oaks won the first game, 4-3, to force a double-elimination game on July 31.
The Western Region tournament includes four teams. Joining El Segundo for the Aug. 5-11event in San Bernardino are Canyon View Little League from Tucson (Arizona), Hilo Little League (Hawaii) and Bollinger Canyon Little League from San Ramon (Northern California).
The Western Region champion advances to the Little League World Series.
Two San Diego County teams qualified for other Little League world series events: District 31 champion Encinitas in the Intermediate 50/70 Division and District 33 champion North Park in the Senior Division bracket.
The Senior tournament ends Saturday in Easley, S.C. The Intermediate tournament runs through Sunday in Livermore.
2023 Little League Southern California Divisional Champions
10U: Golden Hill (District 56)
11U: Claremont (District 20)
12U: El Segundo (District 36)
Intermediate League: Encinitas (District 31)
Junior League: South Pasadena (District 18)
Senior League: North Park (District 33)
