The season came to an abrupt close June 11 when the Malibu Middle Dodgers lost 5-1 to the Culver City Dodgers in the second round of the Tournament of Champions held at the Culver/Marina fields.
Steve Cinigilio’s Dodgers had won the Malibu Little League middle division with a 12-1 victory over the Yankees a week earlier. The Dodgers went undefeated in the double elimination tournament.
In the TOC, Culver City scored five runs in the second inning on two hits and a few miscues. Malibu scored in the final inning on the legs of Tailin Lewis. Kennesaw Eaton-Steinberg started the game and Judd Bortz came in after the five runs had scored and shut them out the rest of the way.
Hunter Myers had two hits, Lewis, Rory Gesner, Harley Rader and Colter Barish each had a hit in the loss.
In the Malibu finals, a week earlier, the Yankees only managed one hit off the pitching of Eaton-Steinberg and Bortz.
The Dodgers came out running as they tallied three runs in the top of the first. A walk to Lewis and hits by Simon Johnson, Rader and Myers accounted for the three runs. The Yankees scored their only run in the bottom of the first.
In the second inning, Barish walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1. A four-run outburst in the third inning made it 8-1. A hit by Johnson, along with a walk to Bortz was followed by a homerun by Gesner. A walk to Rader and hits by Myers and Barish finished the rally. The final four runs came in the fourth with the Yankees giving up four consecutive walks to Ryan McMahan, Lewis, Johnson and Bortz before Rory Gesner was hit by a pitch.
Besides the outstanding pitching efforts by Eaton-Steinberg and Bortz, the Dodgers had a versified hitting attack with a total of eight hits in the four-inning contest. Johnson had two hits, drove in one and scored three runs, Myers had two hits, including a double and drove in one, while Barish had two hits, scored once and drove in one run. Gesner had a home run and two RBIs. Rader had the final hit, a double and scored once. Lewis and Bortz each scored twice and McMahan added the last run.
The Yankees received seven walks and struck out seven times.
The Dodgers finished their season with an 18-5 record.
Vic Johnson