Showing intestinal fortitude not often seen among boys their age, the Culver City Little League 10/11 All-Stars battled back from a 13-8 last inning deficit to beat North Venice 18-15 Wednesday evening in one of the wildest Little League games in recent memory.
Culver City plays undefeated West Los Angeles on Friday at 5 in the championship round. If Culver City wins, the teams will play again on Saturday at noon.
Behind a raucous crowd of family members and friends, Culver City took an early 1-0 lead on an Andy Perez home run to center field. Home team North Venice scored three times in the bottom of the first to erase the Culver City lead.
With one out in the top of the second inning of the six-inning game, Travers Tobis singled to center. Right fielder Jared Bojorquez followed with a single to left, and Tommy Peacock singled to center, scoring Tobis. Perez followed with a mammoth home run to right center, giving Culver City a 5-3 lead.
Culver City wasn’t done. Stephen Thomas singled to left, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Jesse Tanahara single, giving Culver City a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the second inning.
Culver City had been winning in the tournament behind stellar pitching and defense, giving up a total of two runs in its past two games. That pitching was missing on Wednesday.
North Venice rebounded for six runs in the bottom of the second, taking a 9-6 lead. Culver City scored twice in the fourth on a Peacock single, a Perez double and a Tanahara single.
But North Venice quickly scored four times to take a 13-8 lead into the final inning.
Leadoff hitter Peacock opened the sixth by walking. Perez also walked. Thomas promptly drove an 0-2 pitch to the left center field fence for a double, scoring Perez. Tanahara doubled almost to the same spot as Thomas, scoring Perez and Thomas. This narrowed the score to 13-11.
Second baseman Brandon Zeidman walked, and so did third baseman Elijah Adams, loading the bases again.
Thomas Chee took a pitch off his foot, forcing in Zeidman and keeping the bases full. Bojorquez singled to left center, knocking in Zeidman with the tying run and Adams with the go-ahead run. Now holding a 14-13 lead, Culver City wasn’t done.
Peacock singled to left center, driving in Devin Hayden, who was running for Chee. After an intentional walk to Perez, Thomas doubled to left, scoring Peacock and Perez, giving Culver City an 18-13 lead.
Peacock, who had effectively shut out North Venice in the fifth inning, took the mound in the sixth with a five-run lead.
After getting North Venice’s leadoff hitter to ground out to shortstop, Peacock briefly lost control. He walked the bases loaded.
However, flashing his tremendous fastball, and showing confidence and poise not often seen in young players, especially a 10-year old, Peacock got North Venice’s cleanup hitter to ground to second basemen Zeidman for an out, and after a weak single, Peacock induced the North Venice hitter to hit a soft ground ball to Zeidman, ending the game.
Culver City’s first four hitters (Peacock 3-4, Perez 3-3, Thomas 3-5 and Tanahara 3-3) went a combined 12-15 on the night, knocking in 13 runs and scoring 12 times. Defensively, Adams shone, making play after play and keeping Culver City in the game. On the mound, Peacock excelled in shutting down the powerful North Venice team.
Thomas, after the game, was full of praise for head coach Chip Netzel.
“Coach Chip is like a genius,” said Thomas. “We had been struggling to score runs. He mixed up the lineup, and it worked tremendously.”
Thomas said he felt comfortable hitting third in the order. “Tommy, Andy and Jesse were so great in the one, two and four spots,” he said. “ It seemed like every decision Coach Chip made was the right one.”
Zeidman, who fielded the last two outs, explained how important the crowd was. “We were playing on the road, and yet it felt like we were at home,” he said.
“Our crowd was so loud and excited that it pumped us up. They were like our 10th man. Michael (Netzel) and Jason (Zeidman) were going crazy. The crowd really helped our comeback!”
Mr. Zeidman may be contacted at scott.zeidman@laslots.com