One weekend after winning their division in the Malibu Little League, the Malibu Brewers competed in the District 25 Tournament of Champions in Santa Monica last weekend.
The team of 10- to 12-year-olds beat Culver Marina 6-0 in the first matchup on June 11, but the next day the Brew Crew closed their season with a 12-1 loss to a tough Ladera squad.
Brewers coach Eddie Miller said Ladera was just the better team, but said his team played well in the tournament.
“The team played great fundamental baseball throughout the Tournament of Champions,” he said. “Great season for the Brew Crew.”
The tournament also featured Little League champions from Beverly Hills, Culver City, and North Venice.
The Brewers captured the MLL’s Majors division title by beating the Red Sox 4-1 in the championship game at Bluffs Park on June 4. The Brewers won their first game in the MLL postseason 17-7.
Miller, a MLL coach for 14 years, said the youth league Brew Crew had an up and down regular season that featured a lot of good play, but played their best in the playoffs.
“We worked hard all through the season, and the boys got better,” said Miller, who won a MLL title with the Cubs in 2021. “It is showing now. It was great to see the boys put in all that hard work and for it to come together at the end.”
Miller said the 12-member Brewers aren’t a passive club.
“We hit, we run, we score,” he said. “That is how we play. We are aggressive on the basepaths.”
The coach said all the boys on the team progressed throughout the season.
“They all got better as the season went on,” he said. “It was a big team effort.”