Youth baseball: Visalia Blue edges Hawaii Homegrown for regional title

The championship was everything you’d expect, plus more.

The Visalia Blue all-star baseball team edged Hawaii Homegrown, 2-1, in extra innings on Saturday to win the Cal Ripken Pacific Southwest 11-under regional tournament at Oats Park. Although there’s no World Series for the age division, Visalia’s win earned it a ticket to next year’s 12-under World Series.

Hawaii Homegrown’s Kahanu Demello and Visalia Blue’s Nathaniel Nieto were named to the all-tournament team, Visalia Blue’s Williams Graves earned the tournament’s sportsmanship award and teammate Easton Kitchen was named the MVP.

After Visalia regained the lead in the seventh inning when Gabriel Chaves singled in Ryan Gibbons with two outs, Hawaii had a chance to tie the game in the final inning.

Braxton Farnung-Merino led off with a single and advanced to third. At third, Farnung-Merino tried to score on Bronson Fermahin’s infield grounder but was thrown out by second baseman Major Davidian who fired a bullet to Kitchen at the plate. Fermahin was stranded at third as Visalia escaped the threat and players stormed the infield to celebrate the championship victory.

Both teams had allowed only one run during round-robin play.

After three scoreless innings in mid-100-degree heat in the oasis, Visalia struck first when Lucas Iverson, the nine-hole hitter, led off the fourth with a single and then scored on Kitchen’s double. Hawaii struck out the next two before inducing a groundout to leave Kitchen stranded at third.

Hawaii, the home team, tied the game the next inning when pinch-hitter Cruiz Moniz tripled in Farnung-Merino who singled with one out. Hawaii stranded two when Tanner Quinn flew out to end the rally.

Nieto and Sawyer Weber combined to limit Hawaii’s offense to one run while Demello pitched all eight innings in the loss.

Earlier in the day, Visalia Blue defeated its first Hawaiian team of the bracket tournament, ending Hawaii Kai’s run with a 4-1 win. Hawaii Homegrown defeated River Park (Calif.), the No. 2 seed from Northern California, 10-1.

The top-six teams from the 11-team field advanced to the single-elimination bracket round.

Hawaii Kai, which won Pool C, defeated Laguna Purple, the No. 1 seed from Northern California, 5-2, on Friday. River Park took down Visalia Gray, the No. 2 team from Central California behind Visalia Blue, 8-2.

Both Nevada teams, Fallon and Spanish Springs, had trouble winning in the round-robin portion of the tournament.

Fallon’s only win came by forfeit but it fell to the regional champ, 10-0, on Tuesday before losing 21-2 to River Park on Thursday. Spanish Springs lost all three games: 21-11 to Long Beach (Southern California), 29-0 to Hawaii Kai and 6-1 Laguna Purple. Heartwell from Southern California didn’t make the trip.

Pool Standings

Pool A

Visalia Blue (Central Calif.), 3-0

River Park (No. Calif), 2-1

Fallon, 1-2

Heartwell (So. Calif.), 0-3 (forfeits)

Pool B

Hawaii Homegrown, 3-0

Visalia Gray (Central Calif.), 2-1

Grantsville (Utah), 1-2

Casa Grande (Ariz.), 0-3

Pool C

Hawaii Kai, 3-0

Laguna Purple (No. Calif.), 2-1

Long Beach (So. Calif.), 1-2

Spanish Springs, 0-3

Tournament

Quarterfinals

Hawaii Kai 5, Laguna Purple, 2

River Park 8, Visalia Gray 2

Semifinals

Hawaii Homegrown 10, River Park 1

Visalia Blue 4, Hawaii Kai 1

Championship

Visalia Blue 2, Hawaii Homegrown 1