Culver City Little League’s 11 and12-year-old All-Star team could not hold on to a 6-0 lead in the finals of the loser’s bracket and was knocked out of the double-elimination District 25 tournament at Culver City, losing 9-6 to Ladera on June 7.
Ladera went on to upend West Los Angeles Little League, 14-9, June 9, in the championship game. The two teams faced off earlier in the week to determine which team would advance to the sectionals.
Culver City topped archrival North Venice last week, 7-3, to advance to the loser’s bracket final against Ladera.
“It’s always fun as a Culver guy playing against North Venice. It’s a competitive rivalry and it’s a quality one,” said All-Stars manager Chip Netzel.
Netzel praised the team’s defense for the outstanding double play turned in the top of the second inning to spark Culver City.
Starting catcher Mason Mulvihill echoed Netzel’s sentiment, “I believe the strength of the team is our pitching and defense,” he said.
With a berth in the tournament championship series on the line, Culver City coaches Chris Martinez, Scott Zeidman, Pete Mitchell and Netzel turned to the squad’s ace, Michael Netzel. He played an integral role in helping the team advance the week before, tossing a 16-0 shutout in an elimination game against Santa Monica East. He also hit two home runs.
Netzel started out well by getting Ladera to ground out after a leadoff single. He retired the first two batters he faced by way of a fly out to left field and another strikeout before the third hitter of the second inning singled to left field. Ryan Weiner would put his great glove on display by fielding a grounder and firing a throw to first-baseman Nolan Martinez to end the inning.
Culver City made some changes defensively before breaking the game open in the bottom of the second inning, scoring four runs. Netzel worked around a single in the top of the third by getting Ladera to ground into a double play, and Culver City added two more runs in the bottom of the inning for a 6-0 lead.
In the fourth, Ladera tied the game, 6-6. Mulvihill doubled and Matt Stewart walked, but no one scored for Culver City in the bottom of the inning.
Ladera pushed two runs across in the fifth before adding another in the sixth.
The Culver City team is composed of Daniel Aceves, Jake Benun, Marcus Brown, Nico Gonzalez, Martinez, Mulvihill, Michael Netzel, Eli Saucedo, Matthew Stewart, Nicholas Tuanchaen, Justin and Ryan Weiner and Jason Zeidman.