Culver Marina Little League: My Site News
Saturday, June 14MINOR LEAGUE RED SOX WIN DISTRICT 25 TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
By David Rice Culver City – The Culver-Marina Minor League Red Sox did something that a team from the league had not done since 1992: win a District 25 Championship. After finishing the regular season with a 20-1 record, the Red Sox began their quest for the elusive title in dominant fashion defeating the Culver-Marina Dodgers and Culver-Marina Cardinals by the identical score of 14-1 to win the league title and earn a berth in the District 25 Tournament of Champions. After receiving a first round bye the Red Sox played the Wrigley Little League Phillies on Sunday June 8th . After a rough start that saw the Red Sox fall behind 7-3 after the first inning, the team got their bats going to tie the game at nine after four innings. In the fifth inning the Red Sox erupted for 11 runs started by team sparkplug Ramses Hernandez who hit a two-run inside the park home run to break the tie and give the Red Sox an 11-9 lead. Hernandez was 4 for 5 in the game scoring three runs and driving in four runs. Carlos Calzada pitched three and two-thirds innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory and help the Red Sox advance to the semifinals on Wednesday June 11th against the Culver City American Diamondbacks. In Wednesday’s game the Red Sox got off to a terrible start falling behind 8-0 at the end of one inning. Calzada was again called upon to stop the bleeding, and he delivered with four innings of stellar relief. With the score 9-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning the situation looked bleak, but as has been the case all year the Red Sox did not quit. Hernandez led off the inning with an infield single, stole second and third and scored on an RBI ground out by Mike Rincon to break the shutout. Hernandez came bouncing into the dugout urging his teammates on and they responded. With two outs and the score 9-2 Kyle Lyons drove in Kaili Higa and Tristan Wilkerson to cut the lead to 9-4. Calzada drove Lyons in with an rbi single to cut the lead to 9-5, then Hernandez singled to send Calzada to third. Two consecutive wild pitches allowed Calzada and Hernandez to score and cut the lead Diamondbacks lead to two at 9-7. In the sixth inning with the Diamondbacks leading the 11-7, the Red Sox tried to put together one final rally that would put them into the championship game. Lyons and Julio Perez battled the Diamondbacks pitcher for back-to-back walks. After a strike out Calzada came up and drove a single to left field to drive in Lyons. Hernandez followed with an rbi single to drive in Perez and cut the lead to 11—9. Then Kalen Kocker drove a ball up the middle which caromed off the pitcher’s leg loading the bases. Up stepped Mike Rincon who had been the Red Sox most clutch hitter throughout the season. Rincon delivered again with a base clearing three-run double capping the improbable comeback helping the Red Sox to advance to championship game with a 12-11 victory. It was the Red Sox 15th come-from behind victory of the season. On Saturday June 14th with the championship on the line the Red Sox faced inter-league rival the City of Angels Trojans. The two teams who had met three times during the season thanks to inter-league play, with the Red Sox winning all three games by one run. Tristan Wilkerson got the start and worked out of a first inning jam which saw six Trojans come to the plate, but only one scored. The Red Sox answered in the bottom of the first as Calzada and Hernandez both reached base on walks and scored on rbi singles by Kocker and Wilkerson to make the score 2-1 in favor of the Red Sox. With Wilkerson in trouble on the mound in the top of the second Red Sox head coach David Kocker called in Hernandez to stem the tide. Hernandez delivered getting out of the jam with a strike out of the Trojans number three hitter. In the fourth inning Hernandez showed signs of cracking as he allowed the first two Trojan batters to reach on a walk and a double putting runners at second and third with no one out. Hernandez bore down striking out the next two Trojan batters and then getting the final out on a comebacker to stop the rally. In the bottom of the fourth inning Wilkerson provided some insurance for the Red Sox as he singled, stole second and third, and scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-1. Kalen Kocker added one final insurance run with an rbi single up the middle which scored Calzada who had singled earlier in the inning to make the score 4-1 going into the final inning. With one out in the top of the sixth and a runner on third, Kocker who had been the Red Sox ace starting pitcher came in to close out the Trojans and he did just that. First Kocker struck out the first Trojan batter he faced, then he recorded the final out on a ground ball to first baseman Kaili Higa who touched the first base bag and set off a wild celebration at Culver City Park. The Red Sox finished the season with a 25-1 record. The team members were Kyle Lyons, Ryan Wilson, Brendan Wilkerson, Tristan Wilkerson, Julio Perez, Alex Banuelos, Kaili Higa, Mike Rincon, Kalen Kocker, TreVaughn Covington, Ramses Hernandez, and Carlos Calzada. The president of Culver-Marina Little League is Louie Banuelos. Head coach of the Red Sox was Dave Cocker, assistant coaches were Ron Hernandez, and Terry Covington. David Rice was the scorekeeper. Stefan Higa and Freddie Rincon also assisted the team as coaches. Amy Higa was team mother and Mary Wilson was the team photographer. The field where the Red Sox play was renovated by a donation from the Los Angeles Dodgers Dream Foundation, which is a program that Dodgers started to help refurbish fields in urban areas. The Dodgers have hosted two clinics for the league with such Dodger greats as Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Ken Landreaux, and Fernando Valenzuela providing instruction to the players. Current Dodgers, Russell Martin, Takashi Saito, Jeff Kent, Matt Kemp, and Derek Lowe also attended the clinics.
Monday, December 10
Come see our new field donated by the Dodgers Dream Foundation
Tuesday, January 8
Boundary Map
See our fields boundary maps.
Handout: Boundary Map