After winning in mercy-rule shortened games in their previous outings, the 12-under All-Star teams from Dos Pueblos and Goleta Valley South Little Leagues battled though all six innings in their District 63 Tournament showdown of unbeatens on Tuesday at the GVSLL complex.
Goleta Valley South prevailed, 4-3, behind the complete-game pitching performance of William Wrenn.
The victory puts Goleta Valley South in the tournament finals on Wednesday, July 6. Dos Pueblos plays an elimination game on Thursday, July 1 at 5 p.m.
Goleta Valley South head coach Rob Brennan credited Wrenn’s pitching performance as the difference in Tuesday’s win.
“Just solid pitching and battling all the way around,” said Brennan. “DP started up one nothing, and we turned around right away. Diego Alvarez got a two-run smash and really pumped the kids up. After that it was just a huge grind. DP battled back for a fight —what a cross-town game is. It was great to see the boys come up and finish to advance to the finals.”
After DPLL jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, GVSLL bounced back for two runs on Alvarez’s blast.
In the fourth, GVSLL added two more runs to go ahead 4-1.
Dos Pueblos battled back in the sixth and narrowed the deficit to 4-3 on an RBI double from Marcus Carbajal and an RBI single from Isaac Tellez.
Wrenn shook off the runs and finished the game.
Despite the loss, DP head coach Jeff Dernier like how his team battled to the end.
“Believing in themselves and not giving up and rolling over,” he said of how his players handled the 4-1 deficit. “We talked about that in the first inning. We talked about that every inning, and we came back in the sixth.”