A sweet ending for Rotary’s Sweet

Joseph Sweet’s first home run will be one he is certain to remember.

His swing with one out in the bottom of the sixth went for a walk-off home run and lifted Rotary to a hard-fought, 11-10 victory over Sportsworld in Laguna Beach Little League Majors division action at Riddle Field.

The back-and-forth battle saw Sportsworld rally for three runs in the top of the sixth to tie the score at 10. Sportsworld took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Wesley Witteman’s single scored Conner Brashier and Blake Burzell. Another run came home in the second when Cole VanRiette doubled and scored on a sacrifice out by Zack Vandling.

In the third, both Hunter Johnson and Burzell singled and scored on singles by Jack Raffo and Witteman. A two-run single by Johnson in the fourth score scored both VanRiette and Vandling.

For Rotary, the first inning saw Jack Houlahan’s two-run single score Dylan Smith and Remy Mackel, who reached base on singles, and Grant Potratz singled in Dylan Schreyer. In the third, Mackel hit a two-run home run and Daniel Nash had a run-scoring single. Mackel also tripled in the fifth and scored on a double by Schreyer. Also in the inning, Houlahan singled and scored on a single by Potratz and Dylan Gaboury drove in Potratz for Rotary’s 10th run.

In other Majors division action:

Hobie 8, VFW 1: Hobie ran its record to 9-2-1 with its seven-run victory over VFW Tuesday. Jack Loechner shut down VFW on two hits in four innings. Lance Stewart pitched the fifth and closer Jack Wills struck out three in the sixth.

In the first inning, VFW’s John Langton drew a walk and Will Ross singled. On Ross’ hit, Langton headed for home but a throw to the plate by Hobie center fielder Thomas Garcia caught Langton attempting to score. Hobie scored four runs in its first at-bat. Grady Morgan got on base on a bunt and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Wills. With one out, Josh McManus and Stewart both doubled before Kyle McCombs homered to deep center field.

Hobie came up with a big rally in the third, with two out and nobody on base, to increase its lead to 8-0. Wills singled, McManus walked and Loechner doubled home Wills. Stewart followed with a two-run single that scored McManus and Loechner. McCombs reached base on an error, Stewart moved to third and later stole home on a delayed steal by McCombs.

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AAA Division

American Legion 5, Crescent Bay Advisors 3: American Legion saw a four-game skid come to an end when it defeated division leader Crescent Bay Advisors on Tuesday.

A double by Max Shuster and bases-loaded walk to Will Keary allowed American Legion to score the go-ahead runs in the third inning. Left-handed pitcher Paxton Burzell closed on the mound for Legion and struck out eight of the 14 batters he faced.

A bunt single by Wes Abrahams off American Legion starter Charlie Pillsbury scored two runs to give Crescent Bay an early lead. American Legion responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to tie the score on an inside-the-park home run by catcher Aryton Garcia. Both teams scored single runs in the second inning, with Crescent Bay’s John Phelan stealing home and Jett Rocha hitting a triple to bring in Jeremy Hayes for American Legion.