Huntington Valley And Park View Reach Final 20, Santa Margarita Survives
- Updated: July 16, 2018
(José Mendoza of Chula Vista’s Park View Little League on Sunday picked up his third victory this summer, falling one out shy of his second complete game shutout, as his Green Monsters won, 7-0. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)
When the sun rises on Tuesday morning, only 20 Southern California Little League teams will remain alive in this year’s quest to represent SoCal in the West Region tournament at Albert E. Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino. On Sunday, we learned that those 20 will include Huntington Valley Little League of Huntington Beach, and Park View Little League of Chula Vista, as each of those super heavyweights recorded shutouts that day.
Let us start by focusing on California Section 10, and a big thank you to the latest assets to join my undercover spy network, my friends Robin Gray and Mark Cohen, whom kept me informed of that section’s exciting action held Sunday at Aliso Viejo Little League in Aliso Viejo. That excitement included Huntington Valley squeaking by Irvine Ranch Little League of Irvine, 2-0, in a thriller, as four HVLL pitchers reportedly combined on the shutout. Tony Martínez started the game on the mound for Huntington Valley, and lasted 3 2/3 innings before reaching the 85-pitch maximum. Martínez only allowed one hit while throwing 11 strikeouts. He had also gone 3-for-3 at the plate to lead his team in hits.
That Huntington Beach squad had won its first game of the sectional tournament on Saturday, walloping West Anaheim Little League of Anaheim, 16-0. HVLL will play in the Section 10 championship game on Tuesday, when it will face the winner of Monday’s rematch between Irvine Ranch and defending SoCal champion Santa Margarita National Little League of Rancho Santa Margarita.
Santa Margarita won easily on Sunday, eliminating West Anaheim 10-1. SMNLL had gotten forced into the losers’ bracket by falling to Irvine Ranch on Saturday, 7-5.
(Second baseman Gavin Kaiser of Santa Margarita National Little League of Rancho Santa Margarita leaps to grab the ball against West Anaheim Little League of Anaheim on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Robin Gray.)
Now, let us shift our attention to Park View which shut out Cajón De Oro Little League of La Mesa, 7-0, at Chula Vista American Little League in Chula Vista. On other days, Cajón De Oro probably played like a drawer full of gold, but Park View’s fire baller José Mendoza Sunday made his opposing line-up look more like his cajón de calzoncillos.
It was Mendoza’s third victory in as many starts this summer. Just as in his first start, he recorded a shutout, and just as in his second win, he hit his 85-pitch max with only one out shy of a complete game. This time, Conner Alonzo took the mound to record the final out. And guess who was awarded the game ball that Alonzo had thrown after that final out was recorded?
(Rabbi Rabbs holds the game ball that was awarded to him by the game’s home plate umpire David Shepherd, on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Sarah Horne.)
Mendoza was magnificent on the mound. Cajón De Oro put runners in scoring position in the third and fourth innings, but both times “Guero (pronounced Wee Dough)” slammed down the door. In each of those innings, CDO put two runners on base with no outs, and eventually had two outs with runners on second and third. Both times, Mendoza struck out the next batter to end the inning. Pretty clutch.
“I worked hard today, and I felt confident” on the mound, Mendoza told CaliSports News after picking up the victory. The hurler who is reportedly listed as 6′-1″ explained that he fell short of a complete game because he wasted too many pitches in the fifth inning that were called as balls, and because he got too tired when he faced his final two batters in the sixth inning.
Guero will have plenty of time to rest up and recover as the next game in which he is eligible to pitch would be Saturday’s opener of the 2018 Little League Southern California Championship tournament hosted by Aliso Viejo. Having him available for that contest was the full intention of Park View’s Manager Will Bleisch who spoke to CSN after the game. I was happy to finally speak with the skipper, as Park View has thankfully lifted its gag order that it had imposed on its coaching staff, which had prevented the manager from speaking with members of the media.
Bleisch told CSN that he plans to start Kainoa Baptista on the mound on Tuesday afternoon, when Park View looks to win its section’s title, when it faces the winner of Monday’s rematch battle between Casa De Oro and Lemon Grove Little League of Lemon Grove.
Baptista figured prominently at the plate Sunday, belting a single, a double, and getting hit by a pitch.
“I found ways to get on base. It felt really good,” Baptista told CSN. His double sparked a two-run Park View rally in the second inning to give the Green Monsters, as PVLL likes to be known as, a comfortable 4-0 lead. More on Baptista later this week in a full-length feature story. Stay tuned !! And stay with CSN, Southern California’s undisputed leader in Little League coverage.
Meanwhile, Michael Rodríguez had given Park View a 2-0 first inning lead with a towering 2-run homer. There are home runs, and then there are Big Mike’s home runs. When that kid gets hold of one, the explosion alone coming off from his bat sounds like someone shooting a .50 caliber rifle from five feet away. The sound is deafening. Then, you need binoculars to even find the ball way up in the stratosphere.
(Michael Rodríguez of Chula Vista’s Park View Little League blasts a two-run rocket out of the park during the first inning on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)
Park View added three runs in the fifth inning to seal the victory for Mendoza who was very happy to pose for this photo with District 42’s favorite crazy uncle:
(Photo courtesy of Orduna Olga.)
With the victory, Park View improved to 6-0 this summer. The Green Monsters on Saturday had beaten Calexico Little League of Calexico, 9-5.
Speaking of Green Monsters, word seems to travel fast within the Park View family, because when I arrived at the ballpark, Park View’s players who were seated in their dugout all turned their heads towards me, and one or more of the boys yelled to me to walk over to them. As I approached their dugout, one of them asked me to recite the names of each player. I kid you not. That was my exact homework assignment that I had given myself for the past few days, and now, those guys themselves were going to test me on the spot.
It was quite a challenge because they were each seated with their numbers hidden from me. Height differences that had guided my memory were no longer applicable because they were not standing up as they had been in every photo I had studied. So, the boys that I had known to be shorter than the others did not appear to be short. Nevertheless, I nailed it. I recited every one of them perfectly, except I confused ChaChing with AC3. That is because those two players wear almost the exact same frames on their eyeglasses, and without the advantage of seeing their heights or numbers, I was unable to distinguish between them.
Finally, as I posted on Facebook, the generosity of District 42’s Little League communities never cease to amaze this crazy rabbi. At Sunday’s game, my wonderful newly-adopted Park View baseball family gave to me a free Green Monsters t-shirt and rally towel to go with the free cap those folks had already given to me. A member of the host league, Chula Vista American, “the monster slayer”, furnished me with a free t-shirt and cap advertising that league. And if all of that were not enough, a mother of one of the players on Sweetwater Valley Little League of Bonita gave to me a brand new SVLL cap and t-shirt!
All in one day! Three different Little Leagues’ shirts! Oh, and if all of that were not enough, a Lemon Grove Little League fan put a Lemon Grove cap on my head for a photo shoot. I got my photo taken today wearing caps from Park View, Chula Vista American, and Lemon Grove. How awesome is that? I love covering Little League. Best job in the whole wide world.
Let’s Go SoCal !!
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