Smoking Sweetwater Valley To Battle Red Hot Park View

By Rabbi Rabbs
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Updated: July 2, 2019

(Ryan Garcia of Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League hits a sixth-inning single Sunday against Chula Vista’s Eastlake Little League. Garcia homered earlier during that contest to help lead Sweetwater Valley to a 19-8 victory. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)

Two smoking red hot all-star titans, Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League and Chula Vista’s Park View Little League, shall battle Fri., Jul. 5. In District 42 Monster Ready To Rumble, I explained that the Greater Chula Vista area contains the three-headed Little League monster. On Sunday, we learned that at least one of those heads will compete in the 2019 California District 42 tournament championship. The two giants dueling on Friday represent two of that monster’s heads. Sweetwater Valley hosts the epic battle. The victor advances to the championship.

SVLL qualified for Friday’s showdown by blanking South San Diego’s Luckie Waller Little League on Saturday, 24-0, and then beating Chula Vista’s Eastlake Little League on Sunday, 19-8.

Ouch! I am excited for the Bonita team. Those guys played phenomenally. I look forward with great anticipation to watch them play again. However, I always feel terrible for young players that lose by those huge lopsided scores. So depressing. And in front of a big crowd. I imagine that can feel humiliating. Poor kids. I know the feeling. When I was young, I suffered on teams that often got annihilated. I don’t recall ever playing on the winning side of a game like that. My childhood baseball days served as a constant source of negative reinforcement until I finally quit.

Losing can be brutal.

If that were me on Luckie Waller, I’d be like, “summer vacation can’t come fast enough.” But, many Little League fans told me in recent years that youngsters quickly recover from bad losses. About 15 minutes after losing, players swim in a pool, and forget about baseball. However, their parents often continue obsessing. I hope those reports about players are accurate. Rabbi Rabbs may be too sensitive to kids’ feelings to cover Little League. Or perhaps, a sensitive writer is exactly what Little League needs to cover its games. I will let the readers decide.

(Players on Bonita’s Sweetwater Valley Little League celebrate one of their five home runs hit Sunday. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)

Anyway, Sweetwater Valley’s offense lit up the scoreboards. Between the two contests, that team played a combined nine innings. During which, the Bonita killers scored a total of 43 runs, and won, 43-8. A football score. A football blowout. Six touchdowns with a two-point conversion to one TD with a two-pointer. Yikes! That is serious offense even for football. CaliSports News’ Director of Little League attended Sunday’s massacre. Chula Vista American Little League of Chula Vista hosted that affair. There, I watched Sweetwater Valley batters belt five home runs.

Home run derby.

“We hit the ball really well,” Sweetwater Valley Manager Ward Lannom told CSN after Sunday’s huge victory. “The kids are executing.” Daniel Sanchez hit two of his team’s homers. Both two-run shots. “Daniel is on fire,” Lannom said. “He is focused, and completely in his own zone.”

After the game, CSN caught up with the young slugger. Sanchez told me that was his first time he ever hit two dingers in one game. Well, the post-season is a great time to get hot. Sanchez told CSN he was not even trying to go yard. “I was looking for base hits,” he said. “Line drives.”

In that same game, Sweetwater Valley’s Christian Jimenez blasted a three-run homer, and Adrik Sanchez (no relation) smacked his own two-run dinger. Ryan Garcia provided a solo shot.

A perfect game.

In Saturday’s victory, Sweetwater Valley’s Ethan Otero reportedly pitched a perfect game. He only faced the minimum of nine batters during the contest’s three innings, and got out all nine.

Incidentally, I dig the Bonita team’s new look. Love the pinstripes. Lannom took credit for the uniform makeover that features throwback caps from 2010. The 2019 team wears them well.

(Isaiah Bartolme of Chula Vista’s Park View Little League reportedly gave up one run over 4 2/3 innings on Saturday. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)

Moving on, Park View qualified for the upcoming showdown by beating Chula Vista American on Saturday, 7-1, and on Sunday defeating Imperial Beach Little League of Imperial Beach, 3-1. Park View so far only relinquished a total of two runs. That is serious defense. So, Friday’s clash pits a smoking offense against a red hot defense. Should be a great game. I popped my head in for a few minutes to watch Park View’s victory on Sunday. Park View hosted that contest.

Three Little Leagues in one day.

Busy Sunday for me. But, that is only the half of it. That same day, your hard-working CSN writer attended the District 42 Junior division championship, also hosted at Park View. Plus, I visited a third league within that district to conduct an interview for an upcoming article. More on all of that to follow. So stay with CSN, Southern California’s leader in Little League coverage.

District 42 officials scheduled their Majors division championship to start on Sun., Jul. 7, at Sweetwater Valley’s ballpark. If that series requires a second match, Bonita’s league will host that duel on Mon., Jul. 8. As this sportswriter learned the hard way, Little League schedules are subject to change. Nothing is engraved in stone. In any event, whenever the championship concludes, CSN will provide a report readers will not want to miss. Until then, stay tuned !!

Where are they now?

Once again, it is time for the popular segment called, Where Are They Now? In Ready To Rumble, I wrote that Greater Chula Vista Little Leaguers seemingly play baseball almost every day of the year for hours each day. That insinuated they play baseball to the exclusion of all other sports. For many youngsters, that description holds accurately. However, there are several exceptions to the general rule. One notable exception is Micah Pietila-Wiggs.

(Micah Pietila-Wiggs in 2013.
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Matt Slocum.)

In Why I Follow Little League Baseball, I mentioned that Pietila-Wiggs played on the 2013 United States champion at the Little League World Series. He was one of the stars of that Eastlake squad. I watched that series closely. I remember the television announcers mentioned that Pietila-Wiggs also played organized youth football. If I recall correctly, ESPN even showed viewers a photo of the young two-sport athlete posed wearing his football uniform. Clearly, he busted any stereotype of Chula Vista’s Little Leaguers playing only baseball.

From Little League World Series to college ball.

In that article, I stated Pietila-Wiggs later played baseball for the Eastlake High School Titans. I failed to mention that he also starred on the Titans’ football team. The two-sport phenom was reportedly named First Team All-CIF in football, and twice named First Team All-League. In addition, Pietila-Wiggs was twice named the San Diego Hall of Champions Athlete of the Month!

He shined in baseball. In 2017, Pietila-Wiggs was reportedly named the most valuable player in Eastlake’s league. In 2018, that league honored him as its best offensive player. He graduated with a soaring .420 career batting average. He was named First Team All-CIF twice, and First Team All-League three times. This year, Pietila-Wiggs broke into the lineup as a freshman on the University of New Mexico Lobos’ baseball team. Congratulations to Pietila-Wiggs !!

Junior division champs.

I stated earlier that I attended the District 42 Junior championship game. Interestingly, in Ready To Rumble, I mentioned Park View’s Junior all-stars squad. In SoCal Little League Tournaments Return, I mentioned Sweetwater Valley’s Junior all-stars team. Well guess what? Those two clubs clashed against each other in the district finals!! How perfect was that?

(Brian Rudden of Chula Vista’s Park View Little League Junior all-stars pitches Sunday. Photo courtesy of Jon Bigornia.)

I am friends with family members of players on each of those teams. I am friends with the district photographer that snapped that game’s pictures. I’m friends with that game’s announcer. I know umpires that worked at Park View that day. I even know two people that worked in the snack stand. Maybe, I should rent an apartment within the Greater Three-Headed Monster area. I already know so many people living there, and the 14-hour door-to-door drives get old in a hurry.

Anyway, Park View’s Juniors won, 7-4. Congratulations to Park View !! It will next represent District 42 at the Southern California Section 7 tournament. Until then, Let’s Go SoCal !!

Special thanks to a great guy.

Finally, CSN must use this opportunity to thank District 42’s dedicated volunteer photographer Jon Bigornia. He provides to me excellent action photos from almost every Little League game I attend. That is because Jon takes photos at almost every tournament game either held at a District 42 field or involving a District 42 team competing elsewhere. That means he attends Junior, Intermediate, 12U, 11U, 10U, 6U, 3U, kids playing stick ball in the parking lot, you name it. Jon is there. Almost seven days each week, multiple ballparks within and outside of his district. Truly remarkable. Then, he returns home and sorts through literally thousands of new photos. He chooses the best ones, and uploads them to the District 42 Facebook page.

I often ask Bigornia to please snap pictures of certain players of whom I need photos for my articles. Bigornia happily complies. He takes those shots and puts them into my exclusive Dropbox. So, a big CaliSports News thank you to Bigornia! Jon is great with whom to work, and I would like to think that he and I make a great team. Teamwork makes the dream work.