Park View Reaches Finals, Sweetwater Valley Survives
- Updated: July 6, 2018
(Kainoa Baptista hits the winning home run in the fourth inning on Thursday to lead Chula Vista’s Park View Little League to a 2-1 victory. Photo courtesy of Matthew Bigornia.)
Led by a reported strong pitching performance from Iván Rodríguez (no, not Pudge!) who was the starter, and from Matt Bjornstad in relief, combined with a fourth-inning solo home run blast from Kainoa Baptista, Chula Vista’s Park View Little League held on to win a nail-biter, 2-1, Thursday against a resilient Chula Vista American Little League of Chula Vista at Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League ballpark.
With the victory, Park View advances to Saturday’s finals of the California District 42 tournament, scheduled to start at 4 pm PDT at Sweetwater Valley. If Park View wins that contest, it captures its first district title since 2016, when PVLL had gone on to represent the West Region in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA. However, if Park View loses Saturday, that will force a second game, a winner-take-all match, to be held Sunday at 1 pm PDT on that same SVLL field.
Park View will face the winner of Friday’s do-or-die rematch between Chula Vista American and Sweetwater Valley which remained alive Thursday by stopping District 42’s reigning champ, Chula Vista’s Eastlake Little League, 6-2, on Eastlake’s home field.
Before I provide a further recap of Thursday’s action, I need this moment to express my most sincere gratitude to my good friends Rodney Regala and Jon Bigornia, and Jon’s son, Matthew Bigornia, for providing me with updates throughout both games, and for furnishing CaliSports News with excellent photographs taken at each game. If not for those three fine gentlemen, this article would not have happened. True story. I live in Los Angeles which during weekday traffic is approximately three light years away from Chula Vista, and so I did not attend either contest.
Thank you so much, Rodney, Jon, and Matthew! I hereby deputize each of you three outstanding photo journalists as CSN deputy contributors. Better yet, I hereby knight the three of you, and shall refer to you as Rabbi Rabbs‘ Three Musketeers. But, seriously, it is those three superstars that deserve the byline on this article. Not me. All I had done was sit home, eat dinner, and crank tunes while those three did all the work tonight.
Next, I need to take a moment to say goodbye to my many wonderful friends who belong to Eastlake’s baseball family. As reported in a prior article, that community has been awesome to your favorite rabbi/Little League blogger. I am sad to see its team eliminated. Very difficult topic on which to write, as I am definitely an Eastlake fan, and I have been since that league represented Southern California in the 2013 West Region tournament in San Bernardino. So, before moving on, let us honor Eastlake with these fond memories, starting with 2013:
(Winning the US national championship. Footage courtesy of John Green.)
2017:
(Reaching the finals of the Southern California tournament, at Long Beach Little League in Long Beach. Photo courtesy of Steve Wood.)
2018:
(July 1 at Park View Little League in Chula Vista. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)
Hopefully, this District 42 fan will bump into his Eastlake LL friends later this summer when the eventual district champ represents D42 at upcoming section and division tournament games. Until then, go Eastlake!
Moving on, Sweetwater Valley’s Ismael Castanon reportedly came up huge against Eastlake both on the mound and at bat, as the young right-handed starter worked 4 2/3 innings before reaching his 85-pitch maximum, and only relinquished two runs. At the plate, Castanon smacked what turned out to be the game-winning 2-run homer over the right field fence in the second inning, which at that time gave SVLL a 3-2 lead. He then added an RBI single in the sixth inning.
Eastlake had reportedly scored twice in the first inning, but that was all the reigning champ would earn on the night, as Castanon with some help from reliever Elijah Selga shut down the door the rest of the way.
(Ismael Castanon of Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League belts a 2-run homer, and the game-winning RBI, in the second inning Thursday. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)
(In what has almost become typical Sweetwater Valley Little League fashion, Ismael Castanon finished his home run trot by leaping high into the air before touching home plate. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)
With the victory, Sweetwater Valley moves on to face Chula Vista American in a rematch Friday at 5:30 pm PDT on Sweetwater Valley’s home field. The winner of that epic fight-to-the-death grudge duel will punch its ticket to the district finals. Until then, stay tuned !!
(Noah Betanco, no. 23, and Jacob May, no. 2, celebrate after the final out, as Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League defeated Chula Vista’s Eastlake Little League, 6-2, on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Rodney Regala.)
Let’s Go SoCal !!
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