A team of All-Stars from North County is the latest from the San Diego area to make a run at the Little League World Series in the West Regional tournament in San Bernardino, which begins Saturday.
The Encinitas Little League All-Stars won the Southern California championship last Sunday by defeating a team from Long Beach 9-3, in a game played in El Cajon.
Encinitas will take on the Honolulu Little League at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Al Houghton Stadium, 6707 Little League Drive, San Bernardino. Local watch parties are scheduled for Saturday and Sunay at Oggi’s Pizza and Brewing, 305 Encinitas Blvd.
Other teams in the West bracket are from Chandler, Ariz., Las Vegas, St. George, Utah, and Pacifica, which is just south of San Francisco.
A team from Chula Vista made it to the final game of the Little League World Series last year, but fell to the Tokyo team.
The players traveled to San Bernardino on Thursday, following a sendoff that included former Padres’ pitchers Trevor Hoffman and Randy Jones, along with the San Diego Padres’ Swinging Friar mascot.
Victory in the tournament, which runs through Aug. 9, would make Encinitas the fifth San Diego team to go to the Little League World Series in the last 15 years.
“We’re not focused on getting to a certain spot, we’re focused on how were performing, controlling things that are under our own control, behaving with sportsmanship, being good competitors,” coach Chaz Gagne told NBC7/39. “If we move on, that’s great, but enjoying the tourney as we go.”
On its way to the West Regional, the Encinitas team defeated Oceanside National 13-0 in Little League All-Star Section 6 first round game. (see video above)
Two local Little League teams in the past five years have made it to the Little League World Series. The Park View Little League team, another squad from Chula Vista, won the 2009 world championship.
Teams from Oceanside and Vista previously competed in Williamsport, PA.
– City News Service
