The Park View Little Leaguers from Chula Vista are on a home run hitting rampage and no one from California to Kentucky can seem to stop them.
Park View, the Western Regional champions, continued a long ball barrage by smashing seven more round trippers, and defeated the Great Lakes Regional Champion from Russellville, Kentucky, 15-0. The game was stopped after 5-innings due to Little League's mercy rule.
Park View will next play on Sunday against a team from Peabody, Mass., the New England Regional Champion.
Park View once again got off to a fast start in Sunday night's game against Kentucky. With two outs in the top of the first inning, Bradley Roberto drove in two runs with a triple to right center field. The long drive hit off the top of the fence, just missing being a home run by a few inches. The hit scored Luke Ramirez and Kiko Garcia.
In the top of the third inning, Ramirez gave Chula Vista a 3-0 lead with his first of two home runs of the game. As he circled the bases, the boisterous crowd at storied Howard J. Lamade Stadium yelled out L-u-u-u-u-k-e!
Park View then took command in the top of the fourth inning. With two out, Andy Rios and Bulla Graft singled. Then Ramirez smashed his second home run of the game, a towering blast over the center field fence, to make the score 6-0. Then after Garcia doubled, Roberto continued the home run assault with a two-run homer to give Park View an 8-0 lead.
It was about to get much worse for Kentucky. In the fifth inning, Isaiah Armento continued the slugfest with a line drive home run over the left field fence to make it 9-0. Seth Godfrey followed with a home run to right field to make it 10-0. Park View continued to pour it on. Rios followed with yet another home run to right center field to make it 11-0. And it wasn't over.
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With Graft and Ramirez on base, Garcia smashed yet another towering home run to left center field to make it 14-0. Park view added one more run on a grounder that scored Oscar Castro. When the dust settled in the fifth inning, Park View had scored seven runs with four home runs.
Garcia also pitched a brilliant game holding Russellville to just one hit over five innings. He struck out seven. Castro closed out the game pitching the final inning.
During the Western Regional tournament in San Bernardino, Park View hit an astounding 38 home runs. They didn't let up in South Williamsport.
The western regional champions from Chula Vista had been nicknamed the ‘Mean Green Machine’ because of their green uniforms from Park View Little League. However, they took the field in South Williamsport, wearing light blue uniforms with the word ‘West’ emblazoned across their chests. The change of color didn’t seem to matter.
After Sunday’s game against Peabody, Park View is next scheduled to play Tuesday against Southwest Region champion McAllister Park from San Antonio, Texas.
The winner of the four team pool will advance to the U.S. semifinals on Wednesday. The championship game is set for August 29, the winner of the U.S. will then play the international champion for the Little League World Series title.
Russellville, Kentucky is a small rural town with a population of just over 7,000. During the national telecast on EPSN, the announcers quoted a Russellville booster, who said the Little League World Series was the “biggest thing to happen in Russellville since Jesse James robbed a bank there.”
Park View posted a 6-0 record in the Western Regional to become the ninth San Diego County team to reach the Little League World Series and the first since the Rancho Buena Vista team in 2005. The Oceanside American All-Stars played in 2001.
