Minor Cubs Win District 25 Baseball Championship

It had been eight years since a team from the West LA Little League had claimed the Minor Division District 25 Tournament of Champions.

On Saturday morning, however, the West LA Cubs capped off their dream season with a resounding 15-5 victory over Culver City in the finale of the 12-team single-elimination baseball playoffs at Culver Marina Little League's fields.   

"You should all be very proud of yourselves and hold your heads up high," Cubs Manager Mike Ladwig told his team afterwards. "Everyone played a part in our success."

West LA took command from the start, scoring five runs in the top of the first inning against a Culver City squad that had allowed two runs in the first three rounds of the tournament. 

Starting pitcher James Sarantes did not allow a run and struck out two over the first two innings for West LA, which finished the season with a remarkable 21-2 record.

The Cubs increased their lead to 8-0 in the third inning on RBI doubles by Connor Ladwig and Max Prather, but the Dodgers responded with five runs in the bottom of the third, three of them on bases-loaded walks.  

Nine-year-old Julian Galvan threw seven strikeouts in four innings for Culver City but he had to be replaced after reaching the allowable pitch count. He had tossed five and one-third innings in the Dodgers' 5-0 victory over Santa Monica East in the first round.

"We've gotten great pitching all season from Julian, Nicholas [Iverson] and Jordan [Turner]," said Dodgers Manager Juan Iverson, whose club finished 16-6-2. "Our pitching is what got us here and I'm very proud of all the kids. We just fell too far behind today and we couldn't catch up." 

Ladwig pitched the final three innings for West LA, striking out seven and letting his defense make plays behind him. The Dodgers had a runner on first with two outs in the sixth when first baseman Henry Sotsaikich reached out to catch a line drive for the final out.

It was the Cubs' second straight win over a Dodgers team. They defeated the Ladera Dodgers 9-4 in the Minor Division (ages 9-11) semifinals Thursday. Ladera was the defending champion.

"It's hard to think that the season is over, but this is sure a nice way to end it," Cubs Manager Mike Ladwig said. "We won our league and we played the maximum number of games so you can't ask for more."

West LA's 12-player roster consisted of Max Prather, Connor Ladwig, Sacha Pritzker, James Sarantes, Henry Sotsaikich, Tomer Cohen, Jake Spivak, Drey Lubin, Ryan Spivak, Ben Reasner, John Apted and Alexander Aibel. 

The Cubs became the third West LA Little League team of the week to emerge the winner of the District 25 Tournament of Champions, joining the Junior Softball Rush and Major Softball Dynamite.  

While the Cubs were celebrating their Minor Division triumph, the West LA Blue Jays were trying to rally in their final at-bat against perennial power Ladera in the Major Division championship game. 

The Blue Jays trailed 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Zachary Swartz singled off Braves reliever Gary McCoy, then Alex Mills hit a home run over the right field fence to pull West LA within two. The Blue Jays brought the tying run to the plate but could not quite complete the comeback.

The 4-2 victory completed a dominant season for the Braves, who went 26-1 under Manager Dave Johnson.

The Blue Jays fell behind right away. Justin Morris hit the second pitch of the game over the right field fence and the Braves added runs in the third and fifth innings. David Bouldry's homer to center in the sixth made it 4-0.

West LA had lost to Ladera in the Major Division (ages 10-12) finale at last season's Tournament of Champions and was hoping to turn the tables Saturday morning. The Blue Jays reached the final with a 15-5 victory Thursday over Santa Monica East, scoring 14 runs in the second inning to build an insurmountable lead.