Spring Valley takes state tournament title at Sweetwater Valley fields

Brick by Brick.

No, it’s not the local music entertainment venue.

It’s the slogan for this year’s Spring Valley Little League Senior Division team that has designs on qualifying for this year’s Senior League Baseball World Series July 26 to Aug. 2 in Easley, S.C.

The California District 66 champions keep moving up the pipeline to ever greater challenges and success. Now they are poised on the doorstep of going as far as they can go.

“Brick by brick,” said Spring Valley manager Esteban Virto, whose team will take the field in the upcoming West Region tournament in Oakland after winning the Southern California state tournament with a 10-0 run-rule victory against Port Hueneme last Friday at Sweetwater Valley Little League. “We’ve been building this since they were 10 years old.”

Spring Valley has now won three all-star tournaments, defeating neighborhood rival Encanto to win the district title before sweeping Eastlake by runaway scores of 15-0 and 17-3 to capture the California Section 7 championship. Spring Valley finished 5-1 at the SoCal tourney to extend its postseason record to 9-1 and overall record on the summer, including league play, to 19-1.

“It’s always a goal to go further than we did the year before,” Virto said.

Spring Valley opened the 10-team tournament with a 4-1 victory against Canyon Springs on July 2, then continued in the double-elimination bracket with a 10-0 win over Chino American.

Spring Valley continued on course to the championship game with am 8-5 win over North Venice and a 6-2 victory against La Mirada in the winners bracket semifinal.

Three teams were still left standing at this point: Spring Valley in the championship game and La Mirada versus Port Hueneme in the challenger bracket semifinal.

Port Hueneme eliminated La Mirada, 8-2, to advance to meet Spring Valley in the final. The teams got to know each other well in what turned out to be a two-game series after Port Hueneme hung a 3-1 loss on Spring Valley to force a double-elimination rematch.

“The 3-1 loss was our lowest output on offense in the tournament,” Virto said. “We had to focus on our hitting in the second game against them. We were stopped by off-speed pitches.”

In what proved to be the game for the state banner, Spring Valley got out to a positive 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Kaden Bedsole drew a lead-off walk, Romeo Briones followed with a one-out basehit to place runners at the corners. Ivan Virto then delivered the game’s first RBI.

Port Hueneme went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning against Spring Valley starter Michael Ortiz.

The District 66 and Section 7 champions upped their lead to 5-0 with four more runs in the top of the fourth inning to break the game open. Briones and the younger Virto started the frame with back-to-back basehits, followed by a basehit on a bunt to load the bases.

A pitching and catching change ensued for Port Hueneme. Randy Perez made the score 4-0 with a basehit and Alex Rodriguez later scored on a wild pitch.

5-0 Spring Valley.

Port Hueneme remained scoreless when a runner was thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the inning.

Spring Valley tacked on another run in the top of the fifth inning. Ortiz singled to start it off and Virto followed with a sharply hit ball to the left side that resulted in a fielding error. Isaac Lederer reached base to load them up and Rodriguez promptly followed with a sacrifice play for a 6-0 lead.

Spring Valley kept its motor running with four more runs in the top of the sixth inning for a runaway 10-run lead.

Jacob Abeyta opened the inning with a walk, stole second base and came around on a basehit by Perez. Three stolen bases, a wild pitch, a hit batsman, a sacrifice fly and an infield hit combined to score the other three runs.

When Port Hueneme failed to score in run in the bottom of the sixth inning, the game was terminated by the 10-run rule.

The pitch count at this level of Little League baseball is 95. Ortiz hit that number by inducing the final out of the game after coming up one batter short in the semifinals.

“It feels great,” Ortiz said. “It was more of an all-around effort. I just had to trust my defense and let other guys make the plays. I knew the team could do it.”

Spring Valley finished 5-1 in its six tournament games while Port Hueneme finished 6-2 by playing every day in the event.

Twelve of the 14 players on the Spring Valley roster attend Helix Charter High School. As a freshman, Briones logged a 0.300 hitting average and 0.440 on-base percentage. Briones also went 3-1 on the hill with a 1.26 earned-run average and 35 strikeouts in 39 innings.

The West Region championship tournament features 11 teams: Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Southern California (Spring Valley) and the host team. Tournament dates are July 16-22.

Spring Valley defeated Washington, 8-2 in Wednesday’s tourney opener to next draw Oregon. on Thursday (10-0 win for Spring Valley). The Southern California champions remain in the winners bracket.

Also winning their openers on Wednesday were Hawaii (4-0 over Arizona) and Northern California (7-0 on Wyoming). Nevada beat Montana, 16-0, ahead of the Spring Valley-Oregon matchup. Northern California-Colorado (14-4 NorCal win) and Hawaii vs. host team round out Thursday’s schedule.

A total of 19 games will determine the regional champion.

The Senior League Baseball World Series includes 12 regional champions: six from the United States and six from international regions.

U.S. regions include Central, East, South Carolina District 1, Southeast, Southwest and West. International regions include Asia-Pacific, Australia, Canada, Caribbean, Europe-Africa and Latin America.

Coquivacoa, Maracaibo (Venezuela) defeated Irmo, S.C. to win last year’s Senior League Baseball World Series. Redondo Beach represented the West region.

Park View finished the Junior Division state tournament also being played at Sweetwater Valley Little League with two wins and two losses, including exciting 14-13 and 14-12 wins over Corona National and Hesperia National, respectively.

Southern California State Little League Scoreboard

Senior Division

July 2-11 at Sweetwater Valley Little League

Opening Round
Wednesday, July 2
Port Hueneme 6, Peninsula 5
Spring Valley 4, Canyon Springs 1

Second Round
Winners Bracket
Thursday, July 3
East Anaheim 10, Fontana Elks 2
North Venice 12, Northridge City 5

Saturday, July 5
La Mirada 4, Pot Hueneme 2
Spring Valley 10, Chino American 0

Losers Bracket
Saturday, July 5
Fontana Elks 5, Canyon Springs 3
Peninsula 11, Northridge City 2

Third Round
Sunday, July 6
Winners Bracket
La Mirada 6. East Anaheim 1
Spring Valley 8, North Venice 5

Losers Bracket
Port Hueneme 13, Fontana Elks 3
Peninsula 15, Chino American 10

Fourth Round
Losers Bracket
Monday, July 7
Port Hueneme 9, North Venice 7
Peninsula 14, East Anaheim 2

Fifth Round
Tuesday, July 8
Winners Bracket Semifinal
Spring Valley 6, La Mirada 2

Losers Bracket
Port Hueneme 9. Peninsula 5

Sixth Round
Wednesday, July 9
Port Hueneme 8, La Mirada 2

Seventh Round
Thursday, July 10
Double-Elimination Game
Port Hueneme 3, Spring Valley 1

Eighth Round
Championship game
Friday, July 11
Spring Valley 10, Port Hueneme 0
Note: Spring Valley wins SoCal championship, advances to West Region tournament July 16-22 in Oakland

Junior Division

July 9-18 at Sweetwater Valley Little League

Opening Round
Wednesday, July 9
Park View 14, Corona National 13
South Pasadena 13, Hesperia National 6

Second Round
Winners bracket
Thursday, July 10
Moorpark 3, North Venice 1
Viejo 4, East Hills Yorba Linda 3

Saturday, July 12
San Marino National 10, Park View 5
4S Ranch 8m South Pasadena 2

Losers Bracket
Saturday, July 12
Hesperia National 7, North Venice 4
East Hills Yorba Linda 9, Corona National 1

Third Round
Sunday, July 13
Winners Bracket
San Marino National 4, Moorpark 0
4S Ranch 16, Viejo 0

Losers Bracket
Park View 14, Hesperia National 12
East Hills Yorba Linda 12, South Pasadena 8

Fourth Round
Monday, July 14
Viejo 5, Park View 1
Moorpark 3, East Hills Yorba Linda 0

Fifth Round
Tuesday, July 15
Winners Bracket
4S Ranch 9, San Marino National 8

Losers Bracket
Viejo 5, Moorpark 0
Note: 4S Ranch advances to championship game against Viejo-San Marino National winner.

Wednesday, July 16
Losers Bracket Semifinal
San Marino National 8, Viejo 2
Note: San Marino National advances to championship game against 4E Ranch.
Note: Tournament continues through July 17 (if necessary on July 18).

Thursday, July 17
Championship Game
4S Ranch vs. San Marino National
Note: winner advances to West Region tournament July 23-31  in San Bernardino.

California Little League Champions

10U Division
District 66: Spring Valley
District 42: Sweetwater Valley
District 41: Fletcher Hills
District 22: Calexico

11U Division
District 66: Spring Valley
District 42: Eastlake
District 41: Fletcher Hills
District 22: Imperial

12U Division
District 66: Encanto
District 42: Sweetwater Valley
District 41: Rios Canyon
District 22: Calexico

Intermediate Division
District 66: Not fielded
District 42: Eastlake
District 41: Rancho De Oro
District 22: Not fielded

Junior Division
District 66: Lemon Grove
District 42: Park View
District 41: Alpine American
District 22: Yuma

Senior Division
District 66: Spring Valley
District 42: Eastlake
District 41: Mountain Empire
District 22: Not fielded