The Goleta Valley South Little League Junior All Stars rallied for a 13-7 win over Redondo Beach for their third elimination bracket win at the Southern California State Tournament in Norco on Saturday.
GVSLL scored four runs in the bottom of the fourth to make up a 7-3 deficit. The runs came on a single by Gunner Martinez, a double by Wyatt Mitchell, and a sacrifice fly by Joshua Lopez to drive in Owen Carleton.
GVSLL scored four more runs in the bottom of the fifth to take an 11-7 lead, when Cruz Lorca singled for two RBIs, Diego Alvarez scored after tagging up, and Carleton had a run-scoring single.
Lorca pitched 3.2 innings in relief of Martinez and didn’t allow a run. He gave up three hits and didn’t walk a batter.
“Our pitchers were lights out again today against a great offensive team. Lorca came in with bases loaded and one out and got us out of a tough jam and that rallied the boys,” said manager Rob Brennan.
GVSLL tallied 14 hits in the game. Alvarez, Lorca, Carleton, Wrenn and Gavin Miller each collected two hits. Alvarez, Carleton and Wrenn each drove in two runs and Jake Brennan drew three walks and scored twice.
“The boys showed a lot of patience at the plate, piling up 10 walks for the game to go with their 14 hits. They were dialed in with our hitting approach we talked about against their pitchers today and they executed that really well. It was a really great battle against a really solid Redondo Beach squad.”
GVSLL plays again Sunday at 1 p.m, in Norco versus East Hills Little League.