Arizona team dashes Little League World Series hopes for Land Park Pacific of Sacramento
The memories will last a lifetime for Sacramento’s Land Park Pacific All-Stars, but their hopes of reaching the Little League World Series came to an end Monday at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino.
Land Park Pacific’s remarkable run was stopped with a 3-2 loss to Litchfield Park of Arizona in an elimination game at the Western Regional championships, where one team will earn a coveted bid to the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Representing Northern California, Land Park Pacific came in having won three postseason tournaments, some in dramatic fashion. The core members in this group of 12-year-olds have played ball since their T-Ball time as 4-year-olds.
Sacramento got behind the club with community members and restaurants raising more than $13,000 in the last week to help offset costs for travel and lodging in San Bernardino. The Land Park Pacific All-Stars departed Sacramento on Thursday morning, engaged in opening ceremonies in San Bernardino on Friday and played their first game on Sunday, a 2-0 loss to Hawaii.
In this game, Elijah Rodriguez had a two-run double in the fifth inning to give Arizona a 3-2 lead. Pitcher Ambrose Vallejos retired the final seven batters in succession, ending the six-inning game with a strikeout.
It was 104 degrees at first pitch, the same as Sunday’s opening game. Vallejos, whose team is based 20 miles from Phoenix, wasn’t bothered by the heat. He struck out seven with no walks while allowing one earned run on five hits.
Land Park Pacific received two hits from catcher Mason Ebe and one each from shortstop Kasen Kim, centerfielder Patrick Casella and pitcher Luke Wyatt, who also tossed a good game.
The Sacramento team was attempting to become the fourth area club to reach the Little League World Series since the event was created in 1947. The other local teams that won the Western Regional tournament to advance to Williamsport were Auburn (1959), Airport of Sacramento (1966) and Pacific (1983). Land Park and Pacific merged in recent years.
To get this far was a monumental achievement. More than 350 Northern California All-Star teams advanced to the postseason. Petaluma of Sonoma County was the last Northern California team to reach the Little League World Series, doing so in 2012.