Heartened by the stellar pitching of Trumann Gettings, Russell Kish and Joshua Stern, the Reds captured the 2014 Malibu Little League Majors championship with a 7-1 victory against the Dodgers on Saturday afternoon.
The trio combined on a three-hitter to claim the title and, in the process, snapped the Phillies’ three-year reign as champions. The Reds, who began as underdogs, now advance to the District 25 Tournament of Champions beginning next week.
“I drafted a young group of boys and they really came together. They grew together as a group and played as a team throughout the playoffs,” Reds co-manager Geoff Stern said. “They know it’s a team game. They rooted for each other and supported each other the whole way.”
Winning the championship capped off an improbable playoff run for the Reds. They ended the regular season 4-8-1 and in third place behind the Phillies (9-3-1) and Dodgers (9-4). Playoff time became winning time for this group of hard working young boys.
“We knew we had good chemistry,” said Reds co-manager Rick Cruse. “We had great kids and we had high expectations.”
The Reds defeated the Red Sox (4-3), Dodgers (7-1), and the Dodgers again by the same score to win the championship. The defending-champion Phillies were surprisingly ousted from the playoffs after consecutive losses to the Dodgers (14-0) and Red Sox (3-2 in 10 innings).
After defeating the Red Sox in an elimination game, 4-2, the Dodgers had to defeat the Reds in back-to-back games to win the title. But it wasn’t meant to be, as the Reds played a fine game in all three phases of baseball: pitching, defense and offense.
“The boys stepped up and delivered when they had to,” Stern said.
Gettings threw three innings and allowed no hits while striking out five. He escaped two big jams in the early going.
With the bases loaded in the first, Gettings recorded consecutive strikeouts to end the Dodger threat. In the bottom of the third inning, the Dodgers scored a run on a wild pitch but left the bases loaded against Gettings.
“Trumann was focused,” Cruse said. “He’s happy-go-lucky, always with a smile and he really wanted to go out there and do it and he did it.”
The Reds broke through in the fourth inning when Gettings singled up the middle scoring Daniel Rafeedie to tie the game. Treye Meadows followed with a hard hit that handcuffed the Dodgers’ second baseman, scoring Stern and Gettings to give the Reds a 3-1 lead.
The lead increased to 7-1 when the Reds scored four more times in the sixth inning. Rafeedie singled, Kish doubled and Stern drove them home on a two-run single to left field.
“I was going up there thinking, ‘Just swing and put the bat on the ball and he will score,’” Stern said.
Gettings then slammed a two-run home run over the left centerfield fence to put the icing on the cake.
“I hit in the batting cage earlier in the day to warm up,” Gettings said. “It all lined up today. It felt really good. It just felt perfect.”
Kish came in relief of Gettings and pitched two scoreless innings. Defensive gems by the Reds’ Nick Schow and Alden Silvestre thwarted two other Dodger rallies.
Stern entered to close the game and clinched the championship when Kish caught a lineout. Stern triumphantly raised his arms in the air as his teammates rushed the field to begin the celebration.
“It feels amazing,” Gettings said. “I haven’t won a championship ever so this is my first championship and it feels great.”
AAA Division
The Braves ended a remarkable season winning the AAA championship by defeating the Orioles, 10-7. Led by Manager Steve Prudholme and Coach Mario Miranda, the Braves finished with an 18-2 record. Sophia Prudholme struck out the final batter to set off a wild celebration of happy Braves. The Orioles concluded their season 12-9.
AA Division
The Pirates upset the first-place Red Sox to win the AA championship, 8-5. During the playoffs, the Pirates won three out of four games including beating the Red Sox twice.
