July 13 - The BHLL Juniors division All-Star team blasted four homeruns tonight in their semi-finals game against Culver City Little League, overwhelming them 15-10 to advance to the championship game of the District 25 Tournament being hosted by North Venice Little League. The locals playing a must win game to advance in the tournament opened up the game in the top of the first inning with two quick runs. Pitcher Ross Esse led off the game with a double followed by an RBI single by catcher Andreas Breliant. Center fielder Quinn Brodey singled Breliant to third, and scored the second run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by Reid Womack. Culver City answered back with four runs of their own to take the lead 4-2 after one inning.

Left fielder Jack Wagner blasted a one out, 3-1 pitch deep over the left centerfield fence to bring the locals back to 4-3. Second baseman Tyler Graham followed with a single and Esse got on board on an error. Breliant cleared the bases with a three run blast to left to give the BH team a 6-4 lead. Not to be outdone, Culver City came back for three runs of their own in the bottom of the second led by a homerun run by shortstop Darian Sylvester to take the lead 7-6 after two innings.

Third baseman Zach Gaon opened the third inning with a solo shot over the left field fence to even up the score 7-7. Esse was replaced on the mound by Womack who took command of the game and shut down the Culver City offense for three straight innings. BH took the lead in the top of the fourth when Brodey singled, stole second base, advanced to third on an error and scored on a pass ball. Womack's pitching was backed by stellar defense. After a walk to the leadoff batter for Culver in the bottom of the fourth inning, Jeff Donaldson hit a ground ball up the middle that was speared by shortstop Esse, who stepped on the bag and fired to Jonah Gould at first to complete the double play.

In the top of the sixth, Esse led off with a double and Womack was hit by a pitch. After Womack stole second base, Gaon grounded a double down the third base line scoring Esse and Womack. Jack Ross singled in Gaon to make the score 12-7. Once again, Culver City came back for three runs(2 unearned) of their own, to close the score to 12-10 going into the seventh and final inning.

Graham started the seventh inning rally with a leadoff walk, followed by a towering homerun by Esse to the street in right field. Breliant followed with a walk and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gaon to extend the lead to 15-10. Womack retired the side in the bottom of the inning to seal the victory.

Check next week’s Courier for coverage on this ongoing tournament.