Huntington Valley falls to Park View in SoCal championship game

Reporting from Aliso Viejo —  Huntington Valley Little League turned 50 years old this year.

Tony Armand, the head coach of the Huntington Valley 12-and-under All-Stars, commented that his team’s run was a pretty special way to celebrate the league’s golden anniversary.

The longest postseason run in the history of the Huntington Valley Little League ended on Saturday.

Chula Vista’s Park View Little League scored four runs in the fourth inning, notching a 5-2 come-from-behind victory to win the Southern California Divisional Tournament title at Woodfield Park in Aliso Viejo.

Park View will head to San Bernardino for the west regional, its third such appearance in the last decade. In its previous two times as a regional qualifier, Park View emerged from the tournament to go on to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

In 2009, Park View won the Little League World Series. The other appearance came in 2016.

Park View coach Jorge Camarillo said that his team was underestimated coming into the tournament, as Huntington Valley had been making a lot of headlines with its bats.

“I think us being underestimated helped us out, fired up the kids, but at the end of the day, pitching and defense wins championships,” Camarillo said. “We take pride in that. We know that this is the toughest state tournament in the nation. No disrespect to the rest of the nation. Baseball is played at great levels everywhere.”

Armand agreed with Camarillo that defense played a key role in Park View’s path to the title. Middle infielders Ivan Rodriguez and Allan Camarillo helped Park View turn double plays in the fourth and fifth innings.

“Hats off,” Armand said. “They played very good defense, and I think that was the difference.”

The first double play precipitated Park View’s four-run rally. Huntington Valley had its ace, Tony Martinez, on the mound, and Armand planned to ride him for as long as he could.

The first five reached base for Park View in the bottom of the fourth, with an error beginning the inning. Jose Mendoza ran out an infield base hit and Michael Rodriguez walked to load the bases.

Joseph Anderson put Park View on top 3-2 with an opposite-field single to right, and Conner Alonzo followed with a run-scoring single of his own. The lead stretched to 5-2 on a sacrifice-fly by Kainea Baptista.

Martinez went the distance, allowing five runs (four earned) on four hits and a walk. He struck out six, retiring the side in order in the first, third and fifth innings.

Huntington Valley unleashed back-to-back home runs from Martinez and Gage Everson in the third inning, as the local All-Stars took their only lead of the game.

Martinez took Rodriguez deep after the Park View starting pitcher had homered to lead off the bottom of the second.

“The kid gave me fastball, curveball, and he never threw a knuckleball to any of [our] players, so I wasn’t expecting it,” Martinez said after homering in his fourth straight game. “That one, he threw me a knuckle, and I hit it out.”

Huntington Valley likely looked back at the first inning as a missed opportunity. Noah Stockman walked and Martinez singled to begin the game. A wild pitch put the runners at second and third with nobody out.

Everson and Tanner Edson hit flyballs that looked deep enough to score Stockman from third, but he never broke for the plate.

“We just didn’t capitalize when we needed to, and when you’re playing a good team, you have to take advantage of those opportunities,” Armand said.

Alonzo threw three scoreless innings in relief to earn the win for Park View. He struck out three and produced two double plays.

“We had a great season,” Martinez said. “We fought back the last couple of games, and we played every day. It was a fun ride.”

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