Little League launch pad reaches section level for local teams

The road to the Little League World Series, Little League 10U and 11U Southern California state championships, Interme­diate League World Series, Ju­nior League World Series and Senior League World Series is now in full swing.

California District 41 repre­sents East County with 14 in­dividual leagues: Alpine Ameri­can, El Cajon National, El Cajon Western, Fletcher Hills, Jamul, Julian, Lakeside Ameri­can, Lakeside National, Moun­tain Empire, Rancho de Oro, Rios Canyon, Santee National, Singing Hills and West Hills.

Fletcher Hills Little League won this year’s district 10U championship while Alpine American captured the 11U banner. Fletcher Hills Little League defeated Santee Na­tional to win the coveted 12Ud­istrict title.

All three victorious teams ad­vanced to compete in the Cali­fornia Section 7 tournament, one step before the Southern California state tourneys for the 10U and 11U divisions and two steps from the Little League West regionals, which in turn, is one step from qualifying for the iconic Little League World Series.

California District 66 rep­resents parts of East County, South County and southeast­ern San Diego. Encanto Little League emerged as D66 cham­pions in both the 10U and 12U divisions while Valley de Oro won the 11U district banner.

California District 42 repre­sents Chula Vista, Eastlake, Otay Mesa and Imperial Beach.

Sweetwater Valley Little League made it a clean sweep at the District 42 championships by winning the 10U, 11U and 12U marquee divisions.

SVLL defeated Eastlake, 7-5, in seven innings to claim the 10U championship while Sweetwater Valley doubled up Chula Vista American, 4-2, in the 11U final. Sweetwater Val­ley blanked Park View, 6-0, in the 12U final.

Both the 10U and 12U divi­sions were extended to dou­ble-elimination championship games.

The District 41, District 66 and District 42 champions com­pete in the California Section 7 tournament along with division champions from California Dis­trict 22 Little League teams in Imperial Valley.

District 22 champions in­clude Yuma (10U), and Impe­rial in both the 11U and 12U divisions.

Section-wide

Santee National Little League hosted the Section 7 tourna­ment July 11-14 for the 10U division. Participating teams included Fletcher Hills (Dis­trict 41), Encanto (District 66), Sweetwater Valley (District 42) and Yuma (District 22).

Fletcher HiIlls (14-4 over En­canto) and Sweetwater Valley (14-0 over Yuma) faced off the four-team tourney on Saturday with commanding wins to meet each other in Sunday’s winners bracket final.

Fletcher Hills shut out the District 42 champions 5-0 to advance to Tuesday’s champi­onship game.

Elimination games followed for the District 66, District 22 and District 42 teams in the double-elimination tournament.

Yuma eliminated Encanto, 3-0, in the first elimination game on Sunday and sent Sweetwater Valley to an earlier-than-expected exit with a 4-3 win in seven innings on Mon­day.

With the back-to-back wins, Yuma advanced to take on Fletcher Hills in Tuesday’s sec­tion final.

The Section 7 champion ad­vances to the SoCal tourna­ment hosted July 24 to Aug. 1 by Santee National Little League. Thus, a state champion in the eight-team draw will be crowned in East County.

Imperial Little League hosted the 11U division tournament July 10-13 with all games be­ginning at 7:30 p.m. to mini­mize the desert heat. Entrants included Alpine American (Dis­trict 41), Valley de Oro (District 66), Sweetwater Valley (District 42) and Imperial (District 22).

Alpine American defeated Valley de Oro, 10-2, while Sweetwater Valley crushed Imperial, 16-0, in the opening set of games last Friday. Val­ley de Oro remained in conten­tion with an elimination game win over Imperial on Saturday while Alpine American edged Sweetwater Valley, 5-2, in Sat­urday’s winners bracket final to advance to Monday’s champion­ship game.

Sweetwater Valley then elimi­nated Valley de Oro with a 12-0 decision on Sunday to meet Al­pine American in a rematch in Monday’s section final.

Alpine American needed one more win to move on to the state tournament while Sweet­water Valley needed two wins to do so in the double-elimination bracket.

Sweetwater Valley got one of those with a 10-0 shutout win over Alpine American to force a second championship game on Tuesday. The winner-take-all game was moved to Alpine American Little League because of excessive heat forecast.

The winner advances to the SoCal state tournament hosted July 23 to Aug. 1 by District 32 Mira Mesa Little League.

Spring Valley Little League hosted the 12U section tourna­ment July 11-16. Participating teams included Fletcher Hills (District 41), Encanto (Division 66), Sweetwater Valley (District 42) and Imperial (District 22).

Sweetwater Valley (10-0 over Fletcher Hills) and Encanto (3- 1 over Imperial) got the early jump with opening-round victo­ries on Saturday.

Imperial eliminated Fletcher Hills, 4-3, in Monday’s losers bracket game while Sweetwater Valley and Encanto dueled on the diamond in Tuesday’s win­ners bracket game.

Tuesday’s winner advanced to Thursday’s championship game to face the winner between Im­perial met and Tuesday’s loser in Wednesday’s elimination bracket final to determine the final championship game en­trant.

The section champion ad­vances to the SoCal state tour­nament July 23 to Aug. 2 hosted by District 55 Alijo Viejo Little League.

The three older divisions — Intermediate League, Junior League and Senior League — got the jump on the lower age divisions with play at the state level.

Rancho de Oro (District 41) emerged as the Section 7 win­ner in the Intermediate League division while Imperial (District 22) won the Section 7 champi­onship in the Junior division. Park View (District 42) claimed the Section 7 title in the Senior division.

Rancho de Oro got off to a strong start in the Intermediate division state tourney hosted by District 43 Ridgeline and New­mark little leagues with an 11- 1 win over Claremont (District 20) on July 9. Rancho de Oro ad­vanced to meet Riviera (District 27) in a winners bracket game the following day but dropped a 16-8 decision to fall to the elimi­nation bracket.

RDO’s postseason run ended with a 17-5 setback to Scripps Ranch (District 32) on Saturday. Scripps Ranch went on to defeat La Mirada (District 29), 5-4, and Encino (District 40), 9-4, to advance to Tuesday’s challenger bracket final against Riviera.

Moorpark (District 13) was set to play the Scripps Ranch- Riviera winner in Wednesday’s championship game.

The winner advances to the West Region tournament July 23-30 in Nogales, Ariz.

The Intermediate League World Series is scheduled Aug, 2-9 in Livermore. The event will feature 12 teams — six region­al champions from the United States and six international zone champions.

The Junior League World Se­ries is slated Aug. 9-16 in Taylor, Mich. The event will feature 12 teams — six regional champions from the United States and six international zone champions.

The Senior League World Se­ries is set Aug. 1-8 in Easley, S.C. The event will feature 12 teams — six regional champions from the United States and six international zone champions.

The Little League World Se­ries is scheduled Aug. 19-30 in South Williamsport, Pa. The field will include 20 teams — 10 from the United States and 10 international zone champions.

The 10U and 11U SoCal state brackets will include 10 teams in each double-elimination age division.