Congratulations, Rancho Buena Vista 10-11 Year Old All-Stars

This post has nothing to do with Rosemead, Wal-Mart, or the recall election.  I'm just giving my nephew and his teammates some well-deserved props:

On Sunday, August 6, the 10-11 year-old All Stars from Rancho Buena Vista Little League won the championship for Southern California.  They defeated Tustin Western in a game with a very exciting finish.  Some of you may recall that the 12-year olds from RBV went all the way to the finals of the Little League World Series in Williamsport last year.  Looks like the next generation of players is pretty good, too.

The championship was a double-elimination tournament.  RBV defeated Tustin Western on Wednesday to qualify for the finals.  That game ended when my nephew, Kellen Sheppard, knocked a two-out, full-count curve ball over the fence for a walk-off grandslam home run in the bottom of the sixth (which, for this age group, is the last inning).  The grand slam gave RBV a 9-5 victory.

On Saturday, the two teams met up again, with Tustin Western coming out of the losers bracket to challenge Rancho Buena Vista, again.  In this second matchup, the boys from Orange County gave RBV a thorough thumping.  The game ended in the fourth inning with a mercy-rule 14-3 win for Tustin Western.

That set up the winner-take-all game on Sunday.  Smart base-running and solid defense got RBV a 4-0 lead after four innings.  But Tustin Western rallied in the top of the sixth, scoring three runs.  The tying run, however, was caught in a run-down between home and third.  By the time the runner was called out, nearly the entire RBV team was in the infield, backing up either home or third.

So, Yay, RBV.  And if my nephew googles himself any time soon, he'll find this story.  Hi, Kellen!

More information on this story can be found at: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=rbvll