Little League All-Stars Pitch Past Malibu

In a game dominated by pitching, a couple of clutch hits made the difference for the Santa Monica East 11 & 12-year-old baseball all-star team on Wednesday evening at Culver City's Bill Botts Field.

Facing a must-win scenario for the second straight time, Santa Monica East came through once again, defeating Malibu 5-3 in an elimination game of the District 25 Tournament.

An opening round loss to North Venice dropped Santa Monica East into the loser's bracket, but it followed Monday's 4-1 victory over Culver Marina with a gutsy effort against a determined Malibu squad.

Wednesday's game was a duel between starters Thomas Solberg of Santa Monica East and Kale Johnson of Malibu, who matched each other pitch for pitch. 

Malibu struck first with one out in the top of the second inning when Chase Murell hit a solo home run to left field. Declin Sheridan then reached base on an error and wound up on second. Cade MacMillan singled to score Sheridan and Malibu led 2-0.

Santa Monica East tied the game in the bottom of the second on a two-out single to right-center field by Grant Clandening that tied the score.

"That was probably the biggest hit all day because it changed the momentum of the game," Santa Monica East Manager Mike Slinger said. "That was a clutch hit when we really needed it."

Solberg settled down from there, finally leaving with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth inning after allowing five hits with six strikeouts.

'We had a plan from the beginning based on watching a previous Malibu game," Slinger said. "We had a good pitching plan in place and somehow it didn't get put into effect the first two innings. Players I guess didn't recall or something happened. We talked again and it got put into place and from there Thomas was incredibly effective."

Santa Monica East broke the tie in the bottom of the fourth when Chris Cerceda hit a grounder to shortstop to score Micah Maccoby, then Ryan Slinger got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force home Solberg for a 4-2 lead. Johnson struck out the next batter to end the rally.

Maccoby relieved Solberg in the fifth and after Malibu's Will Kish scored from third on a passed ball, sliding into home plate ahead of the tag, Maccoby protected his team's slim lead.

Ryan Dominick led off the bottom of the fifth by driving an off-speed pitch over the left-center field fence for a solo home run that made it 5-3 and ended Johnson's outing. He allowed four hits and struck out 10 batters.

"When I came in to pitch I was a little bit nervous because the bases were loaded," Santa Monica East relief pitcher Micah Maccoby said. "But then Ryan Dominick in the four spot hit a home run which helped because it gave me a little bit more room to work with. It was very exciting because it was close most of the game." 

Maccoby and Cerceda combined for the final three outs as Santa Monica East moved on to yet another do-or-die game, at 5 p.m. Thursday against Culver City. Santa Monica West plays North Venice at 5:30 p.m. at the same site.

"It wasn't our best game but they gutted it out and they really stuck together and worked hard against a very good team," Slinger said. "We get a chance to play another game and that's the important thing."

Rounding out the Santa Monica East roster are Aidan Cullen, Casey Hsieh, Connor Reese, Alex Rubinek, Brett Schneid and Matty Silk. Four players on the all-star squad came from Slinger's Yankees team that won the Santa Monica Little League championship.

In the 9 & 10 age division, Santa Monica West plays Culver City at 6 p.m. Thursday in the winner's bracket and Santa Monica East plays City of Angels at 10 a.m. Saturday in an elimination game, both in Ladera Heights.

In the 10 & 11 division, Santa Monica East takes on Malibu at 5:30 p.m. Friday and Santa Monica West plays West Los Angeles at 8 p.m. Friday in the semifinals of the winner's bracket. Both games are in Ladera Heights. Santa Monica West came from behind to beat Ladera 6-5 Wednesday night.

In the Junior Division, Santa Monica West takes on North Venice at 5:30 p.m. in Culver City on  Thursday in the winner's bracket while Santa Monica East plays Beverly Hills at 5:30 p.m. on July 6 in the loser's bracket.

In the Senior Division, Santa Monica opens against North Venice July 9 at 10 a.m. at La Cienega Park in Beverly Hills.