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LLWS: Southern California Crushes Utah In Semis

By Aaron Valencia

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The winner of this game punches their ticket to the championship game on Saturday at 6:00 PM, and the loser plays Hawaii tomorrow at 6:00 PM.

Hawaii lost to SoCal in the first game of the West Regional, and has worked their way through the losing bracket to have another shot in representing the West in the Little League World Series.

Hawaii could have a shot of revenge with a re-match with the SoCal team tomorrow, or in the championship game on Saturday.

For SoCal, Levi Mendez took the mound, and for Utah, Isaac Lyon.

Antonio Andrade lead off the game with a single for SoCal, but was erased with a 6-4 double play, and a 4-3 ground out, for a quick inning for SoCal.

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Utah on the other hand got things going early with a one out triple from Mason Strong, with a ground ball that squeezed right through the second baseman to the fence for an error.

Mason then scored on a wild pitch two pitches later for the first run of the game.

Utah leads 1-0.

Levi Mendez then got SoCal out the inning giving up a 9-3 line out, and striking out Jake Johnson.

Walker Lannom leads off the second with a single to center field, and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Isaac Lyon.

Jacob Baptista then advances Walker Lannom with a 1-3 groundout (second out of the inning).

Dante Schmidt then ties the game at one with an RBI single.

Game tied 1-1.

With Braiz Ramirez (pinch runner for Dante Schmidt) on second, and Ariel Armas on first (pinch runner for Nicholas Maldonado who got hit by a pitch).

Preston Fleming looked to increase the lead for So. Cal, but ended up grounding out to the shortstop for the last out of the inning.

Utah on their next at bats went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the second inning.

Antonio Andrade flys out to center field for the first out of the third inning.

Shorty after, Levi Mendez reaches first base on an error by the shortstop, and advances to third from a single from Nate Nankil.

Walker Lannom then clears the bases with a three-run bomb to center field.

SoCal leads 4-1.

So, with two outs in the top of the third you would think that the lead wouldn’t increase dramatically, or the inning wouldn’t continue, but you can’t tell the SoCal team that.

With two outs, SoCal continued to hit as Dante Schmidt singled to center, and Isaac Artalejo singled to left.

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    • Both Dante and Isaac advanced an extra base from an error from the left fielder, to put runners on second and third.

    Behind Utah being unable to get the last out of the inning, Ariel Armas blasted another bomb to center field, and increased Utah’s deficit on the scoreboard. So. Cal leads 7-1.

    Utah’s Cameron Terry leads off the bottom of the third, and gets out on a fielder’s choice in the following at bat. Tanner Truman safe at first. Levi Mendez then retires the next batters with a strikeout, and a 4-3 lineout.

    Levi Mendez leads off the following at bats with a single, and Nate Nankil hits a ground-rule double to center to put runners on second and third, but what happens next is incredible.

    Walker Lannom hits his second homerun of the game, and the third three-run homer of the game with no outs in the inning. SoCal leads 10-1.

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    Two batters later with one out on the board, Dante Schmidt hits a blooper to right field for a single, and then Braiz Ramirez singles again to right. Dante Schmidt advances to third.

    Ariel Armas then singles to right to bring in Dante Schmidt for the fourth run of the inning, and the eleventh run of the game. So. Cal leads 11-1.

    With SoCal leading by ten runs, all they would have to do is retire the next three batters in Utah’s following at bats, to end the game.

    So that’s what SoCal did!

    Levi Mendez, and SoCal’s defense retired the first two batters, and walked the third batter, which opted SoCal to make a pitching change.

    Nate Nankil replaced Levi Mendez, and got Josh Akins to groundout in a fielder’s choice to end the game.

    SoCal wins 11-1 in four innings, and claims their seat in the Little League West Regional championship game on Saturday.

    Utah will have to rest up, and forgot about tonight, as they get ready to face a hot Hawaii team tomorrow at 6:00 PM.

    Bottom Line: The LLWS doesn’t mess around.

    The game looks like a great, enticing match up, as both teams have represented their state with great pitching, and great hitting.

    Both teams will be looking to get a seat in the championship game, as both seek a re-match against the dominant SoCal team.

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