Earlier this month, the Malibu Little League 10- and 11-year-old All-Star team reeled off four straight wins to reach the championship game of the Little League Baseball District 25 All-Star Tournament. In the span of nine days, the team defeated Santa Monica West, Santa Monica East, Ladera and Culver City. This is believed to be the first time in over 20 years that a Malibu Little League team made it to the championship game.
On June 28, Malibu faced Santa Monica West in an elimination game. Malibu was solid throughout, combining good pitching, defense and hitting to coast to an 8-3 victory.
On July 1, Malibu squared off against Santa Monica East in another elimination game. Giancarlo Zapalla provided a great pitching performance, tossing 5-plus innings and allowing just one earned run, while striking out 13. After leading the entire game, Malibu committed a couple of costly errors in the top of the 6th, allowing Santa Monica East to score three runs and take its first lead, 3-2, heading into the bottom of the 6th. After tying the score on a key RBI base hit by Louie Thrall, Malibu had the winning run at third base in the person of Talin Lewis. With one out, Zapalla laid down a perfect suicide squeeze bunt, and Lewis raced home and scored, thanks both to his speed and to a hard slide that knocked the ball out of the glove of the Santa Monica catcher on a bang-bang play at the plate.
Malibu had little time to enjoy the thrilling walk-off win, as it had to face always-formidable Ladera the very next day in yet another elimination game. This time it was Fraser Bohm’s turn to shine on the mound for Malibu. He silenced Ladera’s bats and left after four innings with a 3-0 lead. Unfortunately for Malibu, its opponents once again mounted a late-inning comeback. This time, Ladera scored three runs in the 5th, to tie the score 3-3 heading into the 6th inning. True to form, Malibu came right back, scoring three runs of its own (including another suicide squeeze bunt to take the lead) to take a 6-3 lead. Reliever Noah Dark and his teammates then shut down Ladera in the bottom of the 6th to sew up the win, ending the game with a thrilling “strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out” double play.
On July 6, Malibu faced Culver City in a rematch of its first game of the tournament, during which Malibu had blown a 6-0 lead and lost. On this day, Malibu jumped out to a lead again, and this time Zapalla made sure it stood up. He tossed a complete game, allowing just five hits and one run, while striking out nine and consistently confusing and frustrating a potent Culver City lineup with a mix of fastballs and off-speed pitches.
Despite another excellent pitching performance by Bohm, the team’s magical run ended with a tough, hard-fought 3-0 loss to West LA in the championship game. Though disappointed they had not won it all, the team was rightfully proud of its accomplishments, having proved that this Malibu team can play with anyone and will be a serious contender for the District 25 Championship in 2013.