Encinitas National Wins District 31 Little League Crown

With Mickey Moniak tossing a one-hit shutout and driving in six runs, the Encinitas National All-Stars breezed to a 10-0 victory over Poway American Sunday in the District 31 Little League championship game.

A second-inning line drive to the forearm of his pitching arm forced Poway American starter Blake Wagenseller to the sidelines and Encinitas National took advantage, quickly turning a scoreless game into a 6-0 advantage at Sage Canyon Park in Carmel Valley.

Poway lost a potent bat as well as Wagenseller's pitching skills and was left with few options in the bullpen. But with Moniak allowing only an infield single in the fifth to Javier Olivo and striking out nine Poway batters, the outcome probably wouldn't have changed.

Moniak had a double in the second, a three-run homer in the third–his third home run of the district tournament–and a ground-rule double in the sixth.

"It feels really good," said Moniak about his and his team's performance. "We've been working all year for this, and it came true."

Poway American coach Dave Miller and many of the fans on hand had anticipated a pitching duel between Wagenseller and Moniak.

"We were looking forward to the epic match-up between Blake and Mickey," said Miller. "We had to pull him out for injury, meaning also that he could not come back into the game. So, not only did we lose one of the best pitchers in the county, we lost one of the best batters in the county, too.

"(The injury) pulled the rug out from under us. We tried to stay in it and fight as long as we could, and we did. We didn't get 10-run-ruled and played a good game."

Encinitas National advances to the Section 6 tournament beginning Saturday matching the winners in San Diego sections 31, 32, 33 and 70. District 70 will host the games in the Oceanside area.