Little League Baseball:
The Upland Foothill Little League opened the 10-team 2024 Southern California 9-11 Division Championship at Claremont Little League on Saturday afternoon.
Northwood Little League of Irvine scored two runs in the top of the first inning off of Upland’s Anthony Hettiarachchi.
But that was all Hettiarachchi would allow in a 5-2 victory.
Hettiarachchi went the distance, and he allowed the two runs on six hits.
Hettiarachchi issued a pair of walks and struck out four Northwood batters.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning, Carson McGee hit a solo blast over the right-field fence.
Dom Reyes followed McGee with a solo HR of his own to give UFLL a 3-2 lead that they would not relinquish.
Hettiarachchi and Keith Silvestro led off the fourth inning with back-to-back singles.
Two outs later, and Hettiarachchi and Silvestro would score from third and second base, respectively, on a Woodbridge wild pitch, to give Hettiarachchi a pair of insurance runs.
Hettiarachchi went 1-for-1 with a walk, single and two runs scored.
McGee was hit-by-pitch and hit the home run.
Reyes finished 2-for-3 on Saturday.
Micah Carney also singled in Saturday’s win.
Hettiarachchi was supported by outstanding defensive plays from Julien Hill at first base, Maxon Galan at third base, and Dom Reyes, who threw out a runner trying to advance to third on a fly ball to center to end the top of the fifth inning.
To get to the final stage of the season, Upland won two tournaments.
They defeated Ontario Western and Upland American twice in the first round at Upland Foothill Little League.
Last week, at the South Pasadena sectional, UFLL knocked off Claremont, North Los Angeles and then Claremont again to earn its spot in this week’s state tournament.
Up next: Upland will battle Eastvale on Sunday at 11:45 at the Claremont Little League.
Box Score:
N: 2-0-0-0-0-0-(2)
U: 0-1-2-2-0-X-(5)
Win: Anthony Hettiarachchi
HR: Carson McGee (U), Dom Reyes (U)
The link to the tournament bracket can be viewed here: 2024 Southern California Baseball Tournaments (allprosoftware.net)
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