There are more than 180,000 teams and 2.6 million players who participate in Little League Baseball, which stands as the largest organized youth sports organization in the world.
The 12U division annually plays its World Series championship in South Williamsport, Pa., home of the organization that was founded in 1939.
San Diego County teams have made regular trips to the hallowed fields in Pennsylvania.
California District 42 has sent four teams to South Williamsport in the last nine years, highlighted by Park View Little League’s 2009 international World Series championship and Eastlake Little League’s runner-up finish in 2013.
Sweetwater Valley Little League finished third in the U.S. division in 2015 while Park View made a return to the division’s championship tournament in 2016, winning two games.
There have been other success stories:
Oceanside American Little League advanced to the U.S. semifinals in the 2001 Little League World Series while Rancho Buena Vista Little League finished third in 2005.
East County has also sent its share of teams to compete in iconic Howard J. Lamade Stadium.
El Cajon Northern Little League defeated El Campo, Texas, to win the 1961 Little League World Series championship while El Cajon Western Little League finished runner-up to Taiwan in 1977.
Will history repeat a third time for Park View Little League? The Green Monsters are currently halfway there after defeating District 41 champion Cajon de Oro, 17-2, in Tuesday’s California Section 7 championship game at Chula Vista American Little League.
Next step for the Green Monsters is a trip to the Southern California Division III tournament at Aliso Viejo Little League starting Saturday. The 10-day tournament culminates with a championship game on July 28.
The winner advances to the West Region tournament Aug. 5-11 in San Bernardino — the stage at which games are telecast nationally.
The Little League World Series caps the season Aug. 16-26 in Pennsylvania.
“I tell the kids to have fun and enjoy the moment,” Park View Little League President Johnny Fuentes said following Tuesday’s mercy-rule victory.
Fuentes, who accompanied the 2016 Park View team to South Williamsport, called the road to the Little League World Series a “special” experience.
That not-so-easy-to-navigate path will take Park View to Saturday’s Division III matchup against the Section 6 champion, scheduled at 3 p.m. at Woodfield Park. The winner advances to play on Tuesday.
Should Park View remain in the winners bracket, the Green Monsters would need to record four victories to earn a trip to San Bernardino. Dropping to the challenger bracket would require more wins in the double-elimination tournament.
Green Monsters
Teams in Little League Baseball’s 12U all-star division must win four tournaments — district, section, division and region — to advance to the iconic Little League World Series.
Park View entered Tuesday’s game in the drivers seat, needing Cajon de Oro to win twice to capture the section championship.
When the District 41 champions took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning in Tuesday’s game, it looked like Park View might be on the ropes.
But the Green Monsters quickly put their fans at ease as Michael Rodriguez slammed a three-run home run to put the hosts up by a run.
Park View poured across nine runs in the bottom of the second inning and tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the third inning to end the game.
The Green Monsters rapped out 10 hits and clubbed four home runs, including two by Rodriguez, a grand slam by winning pitcher Kainoa Baptista and a three-run shot by Ivan Rodriguez.
Ivan Rodriguez went three-for-three with three runs scored and five RBI.
Michael Rodriguez went two-for-two with three runs scored and five RBI.
Baptista pitched three full innings, allowed two hits and struck out three batters. He struggled somewhat in the first inning by throwing 27 pitches and walking three batters.
With both teams without their respective aces on the mound, it was a guess of just what to expect.
Baptista issued free passes to Sammy Dento and Lincoln Wirschem. After a passed ball advanced both runners, Baptista proceeded to load the bases with a walk to Tait Karlson.
Evan Thiem then greeted Baptista with a base hit up the middle to give Cajon de Oro its early 2-0 lead.
But Dento, the Cajon de Oro starter, couldn’t find the plate at all in the bottom of the first inning as he issued back-to-back walks to Ivan Rodriguez and Allan Camarillo on eight consecutive pitches.
The District 41 champions quickly changed pitchers, bringing in Brendan Hermosillo, who induced a force out when facing Park View’s six-foot giant Jose Mendoza. However, Michael Rodriguez, the next batter, crushed a pitch over the 202-foot sign in center field to put the District 42 champions ahead with one stroke of the bat.
When Matt Bjornstad finally flew out to end the inning, the first frame took nearly 30 minutes to play.
With a 5:30 p.m. start, no stadium lights and overcast skies, there was some concern whether the game would be called because of darkness before it reached its minimum length.
The second inning ended at 6:45 p.m., with about an hour left before sundown in the gathering gloom.
Park View made sure the game ended well before then, however.
Anthony Leyva led off the bottom of the second inning with a base hit, followed by another smartly smacked base hit by Ivan Rodriguez. Camarillo followed by reaching base on a bunt base hit to load the bases.
Mendoza, who struck out 12 batters and issued four hits in Sunday’s 7-0 winners bracket victory against the same Cajon de Oro team, doubled to score two runners.
Michael Rodriguez drew an intentional walk to re-load the bases.
Hermosillo struck out the next batter but Baptista did not let the opportunity go to waste and helpedhis own cause with a shot over the center field fence.
9-2 Park View.
The inning continued when catcher Joseph Anderson drew a walk. Wirschem then took over on the mound for Cajon de Oro.
The pitching change by the East County visitors did not go well for them.
Wirschem promptly walked Bjornstad and, following a fly-out by Leyva (who batted twice in the frame), Ivan Rodriguez belted a three-run home run to increase the Park View lead to 12-2.
By this time, Baptista had settled down on the mound. He gave up a lead-off hit in the top of the second inning but struck out the next three batters. He pitched to three hitters in the top of the third inning, retiring all three in order.
Park View manager Will Bleisch said he considered warming up another pitcher at one point early in the game.
“But I stuck with my gut feeling and he responded nicely,” Bleisch said.
Park View was not done scoring runs. Mendoza drew a walk to open the bottom of the third inning and Michael Rodriguez, the team’s second giant, made it a 14-2 contest with another swing of the bat.
Conner Alonzo followed with a base hit, and Baptista and Atticus Gates followed with walks.
Cajon de Oro called in a fourth pitcher — Kyle Medina — to try to silence Park View’s bats. But it was to no avail.
Jordan Bleisch rapped out a hit to bring in another run and Ivan Rodriguez, with the bases loaded, blasted a ground-rule double to bring in two more runners and, in the process, halt the game with one out in the bottom of the third inning via the new 15-run mercy rule.
The Green Monsters had finally recorded their break-out moment.
“I knew it was coming,” the elder Bleisch said.
While Park View had won the opening two games in the section tournament, they weren’t necessarily gems. The defense looked a bit shaky in Saturday’s 9-5 win over District 22 champion Calexico. Mendoza was strong on the mound in Sunday’s shutout win in improving his record to 3-0 in all-star play with 37 strikeouts.
However, Park View only managed two home runs in the opening two games.
In fact, both games were close until Park View tacked on insurance runs late in each contest.
Tuesday’s game was different.
Bleisch pondered that trailing early in the game might have delivered a message to his squad that had outscored its opponents 29-5 in winning the District 42 championship.
“That was good for the team when we were down 2-0,” the Park View manager assessed. “It humbled us a little bit. They came out and hit us in the mouth but we settled down.”
Park View improves to 7-0 in all-star play while Cajon de Oro ends its all-star run with a 6-2 mark.
District 66 champion Lemon Grove finished third in the four-team Section 7 tournament while Calexico finished fourth.
Eastern exposure
Cajon de Oro secured the championship game rematch with Park View after eliminating Lemon Grove, 9-6, in Monday’s challenger bracket final.
The District 41 champions trailed, 4-0, before rallying with five runs in the fifth inning.
Ethan Parker slammed a two-run home run to help give Lemon Grove an early 2-0 lead but Karlson’s two run bomb helped decide the game in Cajon de Oro’s favor.
Gargantuan home runs were the highlight of the team’s initial encounter last Saturday, an 11-10 Cajon de Oro victory. Karlson slammed one for Cajon de Oro while Lemon Grove countered with two tape measure blasts.
Hermosillo knocked in the game-winning run to settle things late.
Lemon Grove avoided elimination by topping Calexico, 4-1, in the tournament’s opening elimination game on Sunday as Matthew Johnson tripled in Parker and teammate Carlos Mack in the second inning with two outs.
Parker wound up getting credit for the win after throwing four innings with one earned run allowed.
Next up
The competition at the upcoming Division III tournament is not to be underestimated, according to the Park View manager.
“The Los Angeles teams are very, very good and it looks like we could play San Carlos (playing in Wednesday’s Section 6 championship game against District 31 champion Encinitas), and (District 33 champion) San Carlos has been hitting the ball very well so far,” Will Bleisch said. “But I am focusing on our team. I think if we continue to do things we’re capable of and do them well, things will take care of themselves.”
District 42 administrator Ernie Lucero has been to South Williamsport four times with qualified teams from the district. He called this year’s Park View team “enjoyable to watch.”
“This team is resilient in that when they make an error they just dust themselves off and focus on the next play,” Lucero explained. “If you watch them on the field you can sense the very positive team chemistry. The players know how to have fun in front of big crowds.
“This is a key ingredient that makes a team prosper and go farther in this type of tournament. Park View has a lot of followers because of their previous historic victories. The team will be facing tougher competition coming this Saturday. But knowing manager Will Bleisch and his coaches Jorge Alonso and Jorge Camarillo, they will be well prepared.”
Update:
San Carlos defeated Encinitas, 16-2, in Wednesday’s Section 6 double-elimination final to join Park View at the Division III tournament.
Photo gallery by Jon Bigornia
CALIFORNIA SECTION 7 CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENTS
10U Division
July 14-17 at Calexico Little League/Heber Little League
Saturday, July 14
West Hills (District 41) defeated Valley de Oro (District 66), score unavailable
Eastlake (District 42) 7, Calexico (District 22) 5 (8 innings)
Sunday, July 15
Eastlake (District 42) 18, West Hills (District 41) 13
Calexico (District 22) 14, Valley de Oro (District 66) 4
Monday, July 16
Calexico (District 22) 21, West Hills (District 41) 19 (challenger bracket final)
Tuesday, July 17
Eastlake (District 42) 11, Calexico (District 22) 3 (championship game)
11U Division
July 14-18 at Spring Valley Little League
Saturday, July 14
Lakeside American (District 41) 9, Sweetwater Valley (District 42) 8
Calexico (District 22) 16, Valley de Oro (District 66) 0
Sunday, July 15
Calexico (District 22) 3, Lakeside American (District 41) 2
Sweetwater Valley (District 42) 15, Valley de Oro (District 66) 0
Monday, July 16
Sweetwater Valley (District 42) 12, Lakeside American (District 41) 1
Tuesday, July 17
Sweetwater Valley (District 42) 15, Calexico (District 22) 4
Wednesday, July 18
Sweetwater Valley (District 42) 14, Calexico (District 22) 0 (double-elimination final)
12U Division
July 14-17 at Chula Vista American Little League
Saturday, July 14
Park View (District 42) 9, Calexico (District 22) 5
Cajon de Oro (District 41) 11, Lemon Grove (District 66) 10
Sunday, July 15
Park View (District 42) 7, Cajon de Oro (District 41) 0
Lemon Grove (District 66) 4, Calexico (District 22) 1
Monday, July 16
Cajon de Oro (District 41) 9, Lemon Grove (District 66) 6 (challenger bracket final)
Tuesday, July 17
Park View (District 42) 17, Cajon de Oro (District 41) 2 (championship game)
