Sweetwater Valley exits LLWS in extra innings
The Sweetwater Valley Little League all-star team’s glorious run through summer is over.
The kids from Bonita and Chula Vista fell Thursday night in a U.S. semifinal game at the Little League World Series, as Pearland (Texas) West walked off with a 9-7 victory in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Sweetwater Valley won’t get a chance to become the third team in seven years from San Diego’s South County to be crowned United States champions, following Eastlake in 2013 and Parkview, which won the Series, in 2009.
But what a run SVLL did have.
Sweetwater Valley won 19 of its 21 games, including three here on youth sports’ biggest stage. Over their nearly two months and six tournaments, they hit 86 home runs and enthralled a fan base that in recent weeks grew exponentially.
Sweetwater Valley at the Little League World Series
- Sweetwater Valley wrote a great chapter
- Sweetwater Valley exits LLWS in extra innings
- Sweetwater Valley must get through Texas
- Parents happily pay price for World Series ride
Since Monday, the day after their first loss, also to Pearland, the SVLL players heard a variation of the same pregame speech from manager Ward Lannom.
“I remind them this might be your last Little League game,” Lannom said on Wednesday. “Let’s do what we do. If at the end of the game the scoreboard doesn’t reflect what we want it to, be able to look around and know you gave it your all. Know that everybody back home got on board, everybody loves Sweetwater Valley. They love the players for the way they represented San Diego.”
Thursday’s game began as so many had for SVLL, as it took a first-inning when Walker Lannom blasted a three-run homer beyond the center field fence. But Pearland loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the inning on two hit batters and a single, and Zack Mack’s grand slam gave the Texas team a 4-3 lead.
Levi Mendez’s home run tied the game in the third. Jacob Baptista’s two-run homer later in the inning put Sweetwater back on top, 6-4.
Pearland got one run back in the fourth and a leadoff homer in the fifth tied the game.
Baptista, called on in the fifth inning of a tie game to pitch for the first time in weeks, got through three innings without allowing a run. As Baptista was dealing, however, Sweetwater did not get a hit between the fourth and seventh.
They finally did in the eighth. Nate Nakil reached base when the Pearland second baseman couldn’t hold onto his hard grounder and went to second on Lannom’s grounder. Baptista drove him home with a line drive to the gap in right-center, giving Sweetwater a 7-6 lead.
But Baptista still had to face the heart of Pearland’s order in the bottom of the inning, and a leadoff home run by Ben Gottfried was followed by a walk and then a Caleb Low home run that ended the game.
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