EL SEGUNDO HERALD January 2, 2020 Page 3
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Sports
A Look Back at the Second Half of 2019
By Gregg McMullin
We just welcomed in a new decade by
saying goodbye to 2019 and a year that
we’ll all remember. Through it all, it was
another year of fantastic youth sports in El
Segundo, we won’t soon forget. The first half
of 2019 saw some championships in league
play, a CIF title, and another state title banner
hung in the gym. A run at a CIF title in
softball and track and plenty of cheers and
tears will be remembered that will last for
reunions to come
Little League
International Tournament
The Eighth Annual Beach City Baseball
Academy International Tournament was won
for the seventh time in eight tries by a Little
League team from Kitasuna, Japan. The team,
which is made up of 12-year-olds from a
Kitasuna baseball academy, demonstrated
why their successful history had included
three Little League World Series titles in the
past seven years. Kitasuna rolled through the
tournament by defeating the Torrance Samurai
12-1, the South Bay Pony from Manhattan
Beach 8-0, the Torrance Tsunami 5-0 and
the Beach City Red team 12-0.
El Segundo Little League’s
Successful Season
The 2019 El Segundo Little League closed
its books and schedule by crowning champions
in the AA, AAA and Major Divisions after
105 days of baseball at Brett Field. The El
Segundo Little League wrapped up its sixtyfifth
season with Championship Saturday
that crowned the league champions in the
Double-A, Triple-A and Major divisions.
The day started with the Double-A game
between the Lake Monsters and the Thunder,
and it continued with the Cardinals facing
the Dodgers in the Triple-A game and ended
with the Dodgers taking on the Angels.
Before each game, the singing of our
National Anthem was sung a cappella style
by three of our community’s finest singers
ranging in age from 5 to 19 years old. The
biggest fan base of the day was the Double-
A game, with over 300 people in the stands
and lining the outfield fence. The large crowd
didn’t deter 5-year old Charlotte Groendal.
She not only nailed each note but brought
tears and goosebumps to an appreciative
crowd with her innocence of the perfectly
sung rendition.
Ryder Leach RBI single helped lead the
Thunder to a 4-3 win over the Lake Monsters.
The Thunder wasn’t pegged to advance to
the championship game because they were
the fifth-seeded team out of seven teams, but
they persevered.
In the Triple-A championship game, Chase
Mattoon’s hitting and pitching led the Cardinals
to a 9-7 win over the Dodgers. There
were excitement, drama and a near comeback,
but the Cardinals held off the Dodgers.
The Dodgers held on for 5-3 win to
capture their second Major Division title
in three years. RJ Puffer is a hard-throwing
right-hander with good control. He lifted his
team to the title by starting and going two
innings of no-hit ball while striking out four.
His two-run home run in the third inning
gave the Dodgers a 2-0 lead and they held
on for the win.
All-Star action saw the 12s lose to Manhattan
Beach in the finals of the District 36
Tournament. The 11s fell twice to West L.A.
Little League 4-0 in the opening round and
11-7 in the elimination game. The10s entered
the Section 4 tournament on a roll fresh off
their District 36 championship. ESLL and
Torrance met for the Section 4 title with the
winner advancing to the Little League Southern
California championship tournament. Since
Torrance was undefeated, ESLL would need
to win two games to advance. El Segundo
won a thrilling controversy-filled first game
7-6 but fell in the championship game 10-5.
Girl’s Lacrosse
The ESHS girl’s lacrosse team earned the
program’s first league title when they upset
nationally ranked Downey on a tie-breaking
goal by Grace Bonney. Bonney recovered
the ball and scored after a blocked shot by
Morgan Wood. Wood had tied the game with
under a minute left with her 6th goal, and
Bonney scored the game-winner with seconds
remaining to pull off the upset.
Seven players received all-league honors,
including Wood, who was named Offensive
Player of the Year for the second consecutive
year. Baseball, Softball and
Swim Team All-Stars
Named to the 50th Annual South Bay All-
Star team for seniors were Benny Casillas,
Cameron Dornblaser, Ethan Burner, Matt
Romero and Quinn Kirsten
Named to the 27th Annual South Bay
All-Star Game for seniors was Adri Hebert,
Audrey Butler, Kaela Little, Julia Chavez
and Kaili Reitano. Reitano was the only
Eagle named to the All-CIF Southern Section
Division 4 team.
The All South Bay Swim Teams were
announced and junior sensation Dylan
Chen was named to the 50 free and 100
freestyle teams. Sophomore standout Gabriela
Crother-Collago was named to the 500
freestyle team.
ESGS Has Successful Season
The El Segundo Girl’s Softball season
came to an end. The league capped another
strong year through the participation of nearly
200 girls representing the 6u-14u age divisions.
Championship Saturday was a huge
success crowning three division champions.
The 8u division saw the Baby Sharks upset
Blue Dolphins, the division’s undefeated top
seed, 10-2. In the 10u division, the Thunder
Crabs finished off their undefeated season
with a win over the Riptides. The 12u division
saw another thrilling end between the
Tsunamis and the Eels. The Tsunamis held
on for a 6-5 win.
In all-star action 14u division, El Segundo
competed at the Western Nationals in Redding,
CA. In the 12u division, El Segundo
advanced to the Western National Tournament
in Medford, Oregon. Both teams did well
against some of the top teams representing
Hawaii, Idaho, Washington, Montana, Oregon
and California.
Babe Ruth League Completed
its 64th Year
The Stars, who had the best record in league
play, completed their championship season
by defeating the Oaks 7-2. It gave the Stars
their nineteenth league title and the first for
manager Kiko Martinez.
The El Segundo Babe Ruth League
All-Stars competed at the State Tournament,
but both the 14s and 15s were eliminated.
The 13s advanced to the Pacific Southwest
Tournament. It was a remarkable run for
El Segundo that was close to being the
ninth El Segundo Babe Ruth League all-star
team to advance to a World Series. The
team hit well and was led by Lucas Bonham
(.480, 9 RBIs), Max Martinez (.462, 6
RBIs), Cruz Ochoa (.429, 6 RBIs), Dylan
Immel and Dylan Alcala (.357). On the
mound, Immel led the team with a 4-1 record,
a 2.33 ERA with 13 strikeouts. Martinez
ended with a 2-0 record and a 1.75 ERA
with 19 strikeouts.
Five members from the 1969 Babe Ruth
World Series Championship team, including
Scott McGregor, Ed Carroll, Jeff Tidwell,
Stewart Swiggum and Steve Curtis returned
to this year’s Babe Ruth World Series in
Bismarck, North Dakota, to commemorate
the 1969 World Series winners.
ESIHA Crowns Summer
Champions
The El Segundo In-Line Hockey Association
crowned champions in three divisions. The
Mite, Squirt and Pee Wee Divisions played
for the right to place the champion’s names
on a replica of the Stanley Cup. The White
Knights defeated the Chiefs 9-3 in the Mite
Division. In the Squirt Division, the tightest
and most exciting game of the day, the
Coach Steve Shevlin retired from coaching this year. During the Homecoming game many of Shevlin’s former players from over the years returned to surprise him at his final game. In this epic photo, he posed with his former players and this year’s team. Photo by: Jeff
Wilson available at: www.JWPartyPictures.com