Intense Contests in San Bernardino

By Mark Cohen
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: August 6, 2019

Sunday in San Bernardino saw two very competitive West Region games featuring Nevada(Paseo Verde Little League), Northern California(Maidu Little League), Southern California (Sweetwater Valley Little League) and Hawaii(Central East Maui Little League). The scene was a warm, yet not scorching hot, Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino, California. It was Day 1 in a week of Little League baseball that sees the champion move on to play in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Nevada and NorCal started the day with an early 9:00 a.m. battle. NorCal ended up defeating Nevada 3-0, but it was competitive throughout. In front of a fairly big crowd for an early morning game, NorCal made a definite statement to start this tournament. They got an excellent pitching performance from Chase Bentley. He struck out nine and looked in command all day. “They look to him(C. Bentley),” said Manager Bryan Bentley. “He’s always composed. He made key pitches when he had too.”

The weather actually turned out to be just a bit hotter than many of the bats in this first game, but NorCal got a couple of key knocks from KC Tibbits and Bentley. Both of those stars hit homers on the 225-foot field. Chase and his squad like to use a “So what?” theme. It helped carry them through a tough battle with a very good Nevada team on the first day of this tournament which stretches until Saturday, August 10th.

The second contest of the day that featured teams from the West Region began at 7:30 p.m., and it is usually seen as a marquee matchup. SoCal took on Hawaii. This was another intense, competitive game. Hawaii had to hang on to beat SoCal 4-2. It started slow with a scoreless first inning, but Hawaii had baserunners all night. Credit to the SoCal pitching staff for pitching out of some tough jams to keep this game close. Hawaii scored one in the second, third, fourth and fifth. SoCal battled back with a run in the fifth and sixth.

Hawaii used good speed and very reliable gloves to win this one. Kaleb Mathias seemingly caught everything that was hit anywhere near center field. His range was tremendous. Hawaii’s fielding, in general, was pretty much flawless. Their bats consistently made contact against a very good SoCal pitching staff. Isaac Imamura and Nakea Kahalehau had multiple-hit games. For SoCal, multiple players had hits(Josh Hughes, Daniel Sanchez, Joey Castillo, Kapono Nakanelua, and Ethan Otero), but the gloves of Hawaii took away many more opportunities. Hawaii’s Logan Kuloloia held a very tough SoCal lineup to two runs while racking up the big game win.

Both NorCal and Hawaii advance to play again on Monday, August 5th. It is not over for the other two teams. Both Nevada and SoCal are still alive in the double-elimination tournament.

THE SCENE AS THE TOURNAMENT BEGINS

Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino has a major league feel to it. I took a walk around the complex to try to share a bit of the feel and what you would see if you attend(and I hope you would try to get out here for some fun, competitive baseball). All the pics were taken by me(Mark Cohen).

A parking lot features a long line of oversized baseballs. Many different volunteers and others are honored on these baseballs.

The main entrance to the complex finds one waking past a front desk/booth that gives a bit of info. about the games that day. There is also a lineup card that one can pick up to keep score with.

The Pin Hat Raffle booth is usually a popular stop.

A view of the field with a pretty nice background.

The Little League Pledge is a staple of every game.

There is a “Tent City” in the outfield. A mayor has even been known to lead it.

The pin trading area is almost always a hub of activity. I took many of the pics early, so we don’t see much activity in the pin area. Trust me, though, it gets busy once the games get started.

Food(Nothing beats funnel cake!) can be found in multiple locations.

Souvenirs are sold beyond the right-field fence. The workers in that building are not immune from hearing the thud of a home run ball every once in a while.