YOUTH SCENE:

The Seacliff Elementary girls’ soccer team wasn’t satisfied just winning the Los Angeles-area regional finals of the Bimbo Stars Futbolito Tournament.

The Sea Stars are now national champions as well, after they defeated teams from Chicago, Dallas and Houston at the national finals last weekend in Dallas.

Seacliff held first place the entire weekend, scoring 52 goals and giving up only three. The team of fourth, fifth and sixth-graders topped Chicago, 13-1, Houston, 12-1, and Dallas, 15-1. Then, in the final of the six-on-six tournament, Seacliff blanked Chicago by a 13-0 score.

Seacliff advances to the international finals, which begin July 3 at NYTEX Sports Center in North Richland Hills, Texas. There, it will represent the United States against the champions from Mexico and Central America.

Mikaela Doe and Darcy Weiser led he scoring for Seacliff with 11 goals each in the tournament. Hailey Stenberg and McKenna Doe scored eight each.

Also contributing were Makenna Wigney, Hannah Howell, Maddie Anderson, McKenzie Elliott and Savannah Knight.

?

BASEBALL

Huntington Valley Little League

Majors division

Cubs 15, Diamondbacks 1: The Majors Cubs cemented their first place finish for the season, as well as a spot in the District 62 Tournament of Champions.

Jake Scott, Clay Morris and Kodi Reyes each hit home runs for the Cubs. Jonathon Cooper, Daniel Marquez, Jimmy Pecaro and Jordan Kirkenslager all had doubles.

Christian Castelblanco had a triple, Andrew Johnson tallied three hits and Garrett Williams also contributed for the Cubs. Noah Davis pitched an excellent game and Curren Lara made two awesome catches in the outfield, making the Cubs hard to contend with.

The Cubs manager is Rick Johnson, and coaches are Chad Scott, Eric Davis and Dan Pecaro.

?

Ocean View Little League

Minor A division

Express 10, Knights 9: Cameron Prohaska had a game-winning, two-RBI double, and Grant Rockefeller’s grand slam helped ignite the Express. The Knights were on top 6-2 in the third inning when Rockefeller’s grand slam tied the score. After six innings, the Express weretrailing the Knights 9-7, but Jake Cramer led off the bottom of the sixth with a double. Ryo Takada then drove in Cramer with another double. Takada reached third base when Dylan Chennault laid down a clutch bunt.

Chennault then advanced to second base and, with two runners in scoring position, Prohaska came to the plate. After battling the Knights pitcher for a while Prohaska slammed the game-winning double scoring, giving the Express a 10-9 come-from-behind victory. Dylan Carter led the rest of the Express hitting by going 2 for 3 while Noah Driscoll, Brad Vegaand James Carter also provided sound hitting for the Express.

Express 8, Muckdogs 5: After jumping out to a five-run lead after two innings the Express victory was secured, in large part, by great pitching and defensive performances. Pitchers Ryo Takada and Jake Cramer held the Muckdogs to one run in five innings while key defensive plays were turned in by Takada, Dylan Carter, Brad Vega and Ryan St. Pierre. The Muckdogs rallied in the bottom of the sixth on a booming grand slam home run by Jose Gallo, however, the Muckdogs’ late-inning rally fell short.

Express hitting was led by Cramer who went three for three with a home run, triple and a double. Dylan Carter, Grant Rockefeller, Noah Driscoll, James Carter and Dylan Chennault also provided key hits on the way to the Express’ seventh victory in eight games.

Minor B division

Hooks 6, SeaDogs 1: The Hooks turned it on for tournament play with a no-hitter against the SeaDogs. Hooks pitchers threw strong and were supported by excellent fielding. Jet Kelly made a super fly ball catch at third base. The SeaDogs got caught stealing as catcher Ben Quezada gunned it down to second base.

The Hooks hitting was hot! Sean Moore got the game started with a solid hit. Chandler Forth follows up and hammered a double, bringing in two runs. The Hooks kept it coming throughout the game with more hits by Moore, Forth, Quezada and Jacob Hathcock.

Wee-Ball Division

Chargers 20, Seahawks 20: The Chargers finished their first year of baseball with their 10th straight tie, ending the season 0-0-10. The Chargers showed a lot of improvement over the season. Batting 1.000 for the Chargers were Kaelyn Arnold, Sean Carlin, Kaden Chase, Roman Cianca, Kyle Donoho, Jaylene Duarte, Jack Feria, Nicholas Flum, Matthew Severin and Nick Severin.

?

Robinwood Little League

Majors division

Blue Jays 3, Rays 2: Ryan LeFevre scored Nolan Winks with the winning run in this back-and-forth thriller.

The Rays opened the scoring with Jayson Salvador doubling in Tyler Abend in the first inning. The Blue Jays then evened the score with consecutive doubles hit by Nolan Winks and Ryan LeFevre, which scored Nolan Winks. The Blue Jays took the lead when Winks hit a solo home run in the fourth inning. The Rays tied the score at 2-2 when Troy Ishino scored after getting a beautiful hit.

In the bottom of the sixth with two outs, the Rays intentionally walked Winks, which led to LeFevre hitting a clutch two-strike game-winning hit, plating Winks with the winning run. Rays pitcher Braden Salzman pitched an excellent game in this hard-fought battle, striking out nine Blue Jays in six innings. Winks pitched the final four innings for the Blue Jays, also striking out nine batters.