Sports
West L.A. All-Stars to Play for District Title
The Little League 9-10 team advances to the final round; 10-11s fall to Ladera.
The West Los Angeles Little League 9 & 10-year-old all-stars routed Beverly Hills 15-1 in four innings Monday to advance out of the loser's bracket final and set up a final round rematch with Santa Monica West, which beat West LA 11-3 in the winner's bracket quarterfinals.
Monday's game was tied 1-1 before West LA batted around twice and scored 14 runs in the bottom of the third inning. Russell Burton led off with a triple and the key hit was a three-run home run by Max Kozak.
"In a way it's good having to come through the loser's bracket," West LA manager Sean Burton said. "It keeps the team focused because you don't have a long rest between games and we have a deep pitching staff so that works in our favor."
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Burton pitched the first inning, Anthony Mase went the next two and closer Connor Ladwig struck out the side on 11 pitches to end the game.
"Our boys can hit," Burton said of his team's approach against Beverly Hills. "On defense we wanted to stay focused and let them put the ball in play. At the plate we wanted to wait for a good pitch and be aggressive."
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West LA and Santa Monica West play Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the Ladera Little League diamonds and if Santa Monica West wins, it clinches the championship. If West LA wins, it will force a decisive game Tuesday at the same time.
Asked to assess the opponent, Burton was complimentary of Santa Monica West.
"They're a very good all-around team," he said. "Last time we played them we were leading after three innings and basically one bad inning cost us so I definitely think we can win."
In the 10-11 division, West LA had a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning before giving up five runs and eventually losing 7-5 to Ladera in an elimination game Monday night.
Jordan Pardo doubled to score Andrew Coles and Pardo scored on a passed ball in the second inning for West LA. In the fifth, Vince Malcolm hit a solo home run, Wilder Buchannon singled and scored and Joji Baratelli had a bases-loaded hit to score Benji Taylor in the fifth.
Ladera out-hit West LA 9-6. Malcolm had to leave the game in the fourth inning after throwing 86 pitches.
Ladera will play Santa Monica East in the championship round Tuesday.
