LA VERNE, Calif. (CNS) — The all-star team from the La Verne Little League is scheduled to begin play in the Little League Softball World Series Aug. 9 after three one-sided victories in the West Region Tournament, including a 10-1 win over its counterparts from the Cactus Foothills Little League in the championship game.
Kylie Chavez drove in two runs with a first-inning double and a third with a fifth-inning ground out and Katie Coldiron pitched a four-hitter Friday at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino.
La Verne combined a passed ball, walk, two errors, Sofia Ayaberrano’s single and Chavez’s double for four runs in the first.
La Verne increased its lead to 6-1 in the fourth. Laila Washington doubled in Chavez, who walked to lead off the inning. Coldiron, who had reached base on a fielder’s choice and advanced to third on Washington’s double, scored on a wild pitch.
Cactus Foothills pitcher Lila Mills hit the first two batters she faced in the fifth, Laney Sweeney and Ainsley Doornik. Sweeney moved to third and Doornik to second on a passed ball. Sweeney scored on Chavez’s ground out. Doornik scored on Adrienne Ortiz’s single.
Ortiz scored on a wild pitch after advancing to third on a ground ball and an error.
Ryan Torres scored in the sixth and final inning on Sweeney’s infield single after singling with one out, taking second on defensive indifference and stealing third.
Cactus Foothills, the defending region champion, scored its run in the first as Nina Riolo led off with a triple and scored on a passed ball.
Coldiron allowed a single to the second batter she faced, Caylee Cundall, walked the fourth, Gianna Lucchesi, then retired the next 13 batters. Lila Mills, Cactus Foothills’ No. 9 hitter, Lila Mills, singled with two outs in the fifth.
Cundall singled leading off the sixth for Cactus Foothills’ other hit.
The game was a rematch of La Verne’s 10-0 victory in its tournament opener Sunday. Cactus Foothills, which is based in Cave Creek, Arizona, then won three consecutive games in the elimination bracket to advance to the championship game, including a 15-1 victory over the all-star team from the White Pine American Little League in Ely, Nevada, Thursday.
La Verne, the Southern California champion, defeated White Pine American, 10-0, Wednesday to advance to the championship game.
La Verne will face the all-star team from the Pitt County Girls Softball Little League, the North Carolina Host Region champion, in its opener in the World Series, which will be played in Greenville, North Carolina through Aug. 15. La Verne is attempting to become the fourth team from Los Angeles County to win the World Series, and the first since 1990 when the all-star team from the Foothill Little League in Glendale won.