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.
