LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD SERIES: Southeast 12, West 2
What went down: Sweetwater Valley is out of the Little League World Series after a 12-2 loss to Phenix City, Ala., on Saturday.
The Bonita-based team scored first in the second inning on a single to left field by Sebastian Pino that brought Tempe Tran home. But the Southeast team responded with three runs in the bottom of the second inning and four more in the bottom of the third, including a home run by Cam Lee.
In the fourth inning, Tran hit a triple, scoring Isaac Ramírez. But the comeback effort fell short.
Southeast Region scored four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, ending the game on the Little League 10-run rule.
Turning point: Lee’s home run scored Casen Smith in the bottom of the third inning.
Stats that matter: Sweetwater Valley’s Tran scored a run and had one hit and an RBI. Pino and Teagen Cochran each had a hit, and Ramírez a hit and a run.
He said it: “Getting to coach that group of boys, that was special. I hope that I get to coach them in the future again at some point, but coaching them this season was by far the highlight of the season.”
“Obviously it’s not the result we wanted. I told them it wasn’t our best baseball playing out here, it was actually probably our worst baseball of the entire All-Star season. But the overarching theme I told them was we could talk about all the mistakes we made today, but the overarching theme was how proud I am of them.
“I’m super proud of them. To accomplishing this, to be in the top 20 in the world, to go on this run.
“(I told them) So many kids in your city, in your state, in the United States, and in the world, that wanna be in your position, and you guys should be super proud of that.” — Sweetwater Valley coach Steve Winnick