West L.A. Junior All-Stars Fall in District Finals

The West Los Angeles Little League had teams advance deep into the District 25 All-Star Tournament in nearly every division, but none was able to win the district title this year.

The junior team (ages 13-14) lost to North Venice 13-3 in six innings on Wednesday in the championship round, suffering its second loss to North Venice in the double-elimination tournament.

"The better team won, but we're a younger team and to get through the tournament and play in the finals is a big accomplishment for us," West LA manager Geoff Lands said. "Our league has never done this [Juniors] and switching from the smaller diamonds that these kids are used to with 45 feet from the mound to the plate to 60-foot mounds and 90 feet between bases is a huge adjustment."

North Venice was predominately 14-year-olds while West LA consisted of one 12-year-old, 11 who are age 13 and two 14-year-olds. West LA's players, however, meshed because they had won the District playoffs in the 10-11 and 11-12 age groups before advancing to the finals of the Sectional Tournament the previous two years. 

"I've coached them since they were nine years- old and 12 of our 14 kids will be eligible to play [Junior] again next year."

West LA's lone 12-year-old is lead-off hitter and starting shortstop Malik Henry while first baseman Uriel Mandl had key hits and Ethan Baer pitched three innings to close out a 15-11 win Tuesday against Culver City in the loser's bracket final.  

"In the 50-year history of our league, we've won the district I think 10 times," Lands said. "So it's hard to do. As a group, this team enjoys playing together. A majority of these kids are seventh-graders and they go to different schools--three are at Harvard-Westlake, three are at Campbell Hall, two go to Paul Revere Middle School, another goes to Brentwood... so there's a good mix."

The junior team's roster consists of Henry, Mandl, Baer, John Thomas, Jake Dante, Cameron Deere, Roy Hirota, Trey Fearn, Brandon Fox, Matt Reskin, Ramsey Lands, McCabe Slye, Brian Bereny and Joseph Hardoon.

In the 9-10 division, West LA lost in the finals of the winner's bracket to Santa Monica West, but won the loser's bracket to force a rematch, where it lost to Santa Monica West again and was eliminated.

In the 10-11 division, West LA lost to Santa Monica East 7-4 in the winner's bracket final, then fell to Ladera 7-5 in the loser's bracket final.

In the 11-12 division, West LA beat Ladera 12-8 to take the winner's bracket, only to lose twice to Ladera in the championship round.

West LA hosted both the 9-10 and 11-12 District 25 All-Star Softball tournaments and West LA reached the finals in each age group, falling to North Venice 15-1 in the 9-10 and 6-2 in the 11-12.