The fireworks started early at Girsh Park on Friday night as the Dos Pueblos Little League 11-under All Stars held on to beat Goleta Valley South, 6-5, to force a winner-take-all game for the District 63 Tournament championship.
The teams will square off on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the DPLL complex at Girsh Park.
Matty Brennan led an 11-hit attack for DPLL, going 3 for 3 and stealing three bases. Jonah Pepper, Grady Felix and Connor Nightingale each had two hits and Kiam Palmer and Carson Iza had one apiece.
The score went back and forth in the gme. Dos Pueblos took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a triple by Nightingale and a RBI single by Isaac Gutierrez.
Goleta Valley South came back with two runs by Marcos Rios and Chris Youngdahl
Consecutive hits by Palmer, Pepper and Felix resulted in a run to tie the score at 2-2 in the third.
Mitchell Norman scored to put Goleta Valley South back into the lead.
Brennan, Kai Hicks, Palmer and Pepper scored for Dos Pueblos in the top of the fifth to retake the lead.
Goleta Valley got two back to pull within one before Alex Casady got the final out. Casady relieved Skylar Ngai and pitched four innings to pick up the win.
Members of the DPLL 11U All-Star team include Matty Brennan, Holden Brey, Alex Casady, Charlie Douglas, Grady Felix, Issac Gutierrez, Kai Hicks, Carson Iza, Isaac Moreno, Skylar Ngai, Connor Nightingale, Kian Palmer and Jonah Pepper. The team is managed by Dr. Dan Brennan, with assistant coaches Jacob Pepper and Dave Robertson.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.