It was a crosstown rivalry matchup in the Juniors District 63 Championship game on Saturday, as Dos Pueblos LL took on Goleta Valley South LL in Fillmore for the title.
DPLL came out on top thanks to a strong effort from their offense, earning a 10-6 victory over GVSLL and the District 63 championship banner.
With the opening tournament win, DPLL will now move on to the Section 1 Tournament hosted by Nipomo Little League. The first game for DPLL will be on Friday, July 5 at 5 p.m.
The Juniors division is made up of players ages 12-14, some of whom will head into high school in the fall.
It started early for DPLL, as Jonah Pepper and Max Cruse scored on a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead. Both Pepper and Cruse had singled earlier in the inning.
The DPLL offense continued to do its part in the second when Isaac Guttierez, Adan Macias and Gabe Estrella scored on a ground ball and two wild pitches to go up 5-0.
GVSLL’s offense came alive in the fourth after a double from Kieren Ramaker was followed up by singles by Christian Martinez and Chris Youngdahl to cut the lead to 5-1.
Henry Helson then came up clutch with two outs for GVSLL, singling home Martinez and Marco Rios. With Helson on second, Jacob Arias doubled him in to inch closer at 5-4 at the end of the top of the fourth.
DPLL got a run back in the bottom half courtesy of an RBI triple off the bat of Guttierez to score Cruse.
In the bottom of the fifth, the DPLL offense came through once again with four runs with RBIs from Charlie Douglas and Matt Brennan. To cap off the scoring, Kian Palmer stole home to bring the score to 10-4 heading into the sixth.
After a scoreless sixth, GVSLL put a rally together in the top of the seventh as Marcos Rios scored on a balk and they added one more run on an errant throw to cut the deficit to 10-6.
However, DPLL closed out the seventh and clinched the District 63 title.
Douglas started on the mound for DPLL and turned in a solid outing through four innings. Guttierez then followed him up in relief and allowed one hit in the final three frames of play.
The DPLL Juniors All-Stars are Matt Brennan, Holden Brey, Max Cruse, Charlie Douglas, Gabe Estrella, Grady Felix, Oliver Gesswein, Isaac Guttierez, Adan Macias, Seth Orozco, Kian Palmer and Jonah Pepper.
The team is managed by Jacob Pepper with coaches Dan Brennan, Jeff Palmer and Dave Robertson.