NorCal Gets Redemption Over SoCal In Little League West Regionals

SAN BERNARDINO, CA — The Northern California Little Leaguers got redemption Wednesday night, defeating Southern California 7-5. With the win, the Tri City Little Leaguers (2-1) out of Rocklin move on to the West regional tournament semi-final Friday in San Bernardino, where they'll play the loser of Hawaii-Nevada. The eventual West champion will go on to play the Southeast champion Aug. 17 in the Little League World Series.

The huge win came just days after Tri City fell to the Park View Little League all stars (2-2) out of Chula Vista in a 16-8 slugfest Sunday.

Both teams flew out of the gates Wednesday, scoring a combined seven runs in the first inning. Northern California was able to score in each of the first four innings and amassed 12 hits in the game. Nathan Erickson and Tyler Allen were forces to be reckoned with, combining for six hits — each had on double — two RBIs and four runs scored. Meanwhile, pitcher Benjamin Tipper got the win, tossing four innings of two-run ball on two hits. He struck out seven batters and walked four.

Southern California was in the game until the end despite going down four runs in the first inning. The team clawed their way back, scoring three of their own in the first inning to cut the deficit to one run. But the hits were too few and far between, as only three players were able to get hits on the day. Anthony Leyva and Ivan Rodriguez Jr. combined for four of the team's five total hits, as well as four of the team's five total runs scored.

SoCal pitcher Matthew Bjornstad labored through the first inning, allowing five runs — three earned — on five hits. He also walked a batter. Rodriguez took over in the second inning and hurled 4.2 innings of two-run ball, striking out seven.

Anyone in sports will tell you it's hard to beat the same, evenly matched opponent twice in a short period of time. That proved to be the case for SoCal, which had clobbered NorCal on Sunday. In that game, Park View clubbed a whopping 16 hits — including five home runs off the bats of Jose Mendoza and Michael Rodriguez — one of which was a grand slam. Rodriguez ended Sunday with eight RBIs and three runs scored.

But Tri City seemingly figured out how to beat the dynamic duo — walk them. On Wednesday, Michael Rodriguez and Mendoza combined for zero hits and five walks.

Chula Vista is about 7 miles southeast of San Diego. Rocklin is about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento.

Rosters

Northern California

Dylan O'Neill

Tyler Allen

Gavin Correia

Tanner Dykstra

Nathan Erickson

Brady Cason

Troy Estes

Brock Kruse

Trajan Rogowski

Benjamin Tipper

Troy Ueltzen

Adam Van Der Kamp

Jonathan Vavak

Aiden Weissenberg-Frost

Southern California

Conner Alonzo

Makai Corpuz

Kainoa Baptista

Matthew Bjornstad

Jordan Bleisch

Joseph Anderson

Allan Camarillo

Atticus Gates

Anthony Leyva

Jose Mendoza

Ivan Rodriguez Jr.

Michael Rodriguez

Kenneth Skinner

See Also:

• South Korea Champions Of Little League Intermediate World Series

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