Sunday Lemon Grove 4 Brevard Co., Fla. 3

Monday Lemon Grove 15 Auckland, NZ 2 (5 inn.)

Wednesday Lemon Grove 5 Emilia, Italy 4 (8 inn.)

Thursday Lemon Grove 9 Houston 1

Friday Semifinal Lemon Grove 6 Grand Rapids, Mich. 3

Saturday World Final Guatemala City 6 Lemon Grove 3

The Senior League division All-Stars from Lemon Grove Little League. (LGLL courtesy photo)

USA titlist Lemon Grove falls
in international championship finale

© East County Sports.com
BANGOR, Maine (8-18-12, 10:55 p.m.) — The dream fell just a single game short for the Senior League (age 14-16) All-Stars from Lemon Grove Little League.

In a battle among the final unbeaten ballclubs at the International Tournament, Lemon Grove staked an early lead, but he opponent from the Juvenil de Guatemala Little League of Guatemala City, Guatemala, scored three times in both the 3rd and 6th inning, enough to eventual down Lemon Grove, 6-3, in Saturday's (Aug. 18) nationally televised championship contest held at Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium.

FRANKIE NUNEZ was the focal point in all of Lemon Grove's offense. He scored on a DOMINIK SAWYER double in the 2nd for a 1-0 lead. Nunez, the starting first baseman, then registerd a pair of RBI with a double in the 6th, scoring both RAY PETERSON (lead single) and CESAR PRECIADO, the pinch-runner for DEANDRE SIMPSON (walk).

Peterson finished the tournament with a team-best .533 batting average, helping Lemon Grove essentially claim the USA crown as the last American team left standing following six levels of tournament play.

Guatemala becomes the fourth differentcountry from Latin America to capture the SLWS crown since it was moved to Bangor in 2002, joining Curacao (2002), Venezuela (2006) and Aruba (2010).

Lemon Grove (5-0) will meet the only other undefeated team in the tournament in Latin America titlist Guatemala City, Guatemala, which downed Brevard Co., Fla., 5-2. The championship will be on ESPNU (Cox chl. 322) and online at ESPN3.com at 11 a.m. PT.

Lemon Grove struck for a pair of first-inning runs, then posted three more in the 4th for a 5-1 cushion, allowing pitcher FRANKIE NUNEZ to cruise in his complete-game, 4-hitter. Nunez struck out six batters with his two-seam fastball, with the lone run allowed coming unearned.

Meanwhile, designated hitter RAY PETERSON and second baseman ESTEBAN LIERAS each batted 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice. Peterson also knocked in a pair of runs, raising his batting average in the tournamrn to a torrid .583, while Lieras, who also knocked in a run, is batting at a solid .471 clip.

Leading 2-1, Lemon Grove busted the game open when Lieras doubled in BRAD MORENO, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the 4th. Peterson then doubled home Lieras, then scored when DEANDRE SIMPSON posted the ballclub's third double of the frame.

Nunez added a sacrifice fly in plate Peterson in the 6th to cap the scoring under sunny conditions after Thursday's games were all played in a light rain.

Lemon Grove's victory completed a 4-0 run through pool play, allowing them to avoid powerful Latin America region champion Juvenil de Guatemala LL (Guatemala Cty, Guatemala), which won the other pool, to instead gain a Final Four showdown against U.S. Central champion Grand Rapids, Mich., which went 2-2 and needed a tiebreaker to advance.

Meanwhile, Guatemala, which only needed to play three games when its fourth ballgame was cancelled, will meet South Beaches/Greater West Melbourne (Brevard County, Fla.) in the first of two semifinals, slated for 11:30 a.m. ET. The Lemon Grove-Grand Rapids affair will follow with a scheduled 2:30 p.m. ET start.

In a light rain, Lemon Grove built an early 3-0 lead on Houston, then blew the game open with five runs in the 6th inning when they sent nine batters to the plate.

BRANDON WEED singled home ALEX ESTRADA with Lemon Grove's third straight single to open the inning, then Sawyer's single -- the team's fourth straight -- brought home FRANKIE NUNEZ and Weed.

And when BRAD MORENO made it five straight basehits, Weed scored for a 7-0 advantage.

Meanwhile, Weed pitched 6 2/3 solid innings for Lemon Grove, allowing just four hits and one unearned run to collect the victory. Nunez came in to register the final out.

Moreno, the centerfielder, collected three basehits, while Clark and Sawyer each batted 2-for-4 in the team's 10-hit attack.

ALEX ESTRADA provided the walk-off, game-winning hit, bringing home RAY PETERSON with a two-out single, the final of three consecutive Lemon Grove hits in order to win the contest.

Italy scored single runs in the 2nd and 5th innings, but Lemon Grove twice got even with runs in the 3rd and the 5th, both on RBI by Peterson to send the ballgame into extra innings. However, Italy doubled its score with two runs in the 8th, but the comeback theatrics of Lemon Grove continued.

CESAR PRECIADO ignited the rally with a leadoff single. He was balked to second, then scored on a double by DOMINIK SAWYER.

Two outs later, Peterson singled to bring in pinch-runner JAMES KELLY – Peterson's third game-tying RBI on the day. DEANDRE SIMPSON followed with a basehit, then Estrada collected his game-winner

Peterson, Estrada and ESTEBAN LIERAS each registered two of Lemon Grove's 11 total hits,making a winner of relief pitcher Sawyer, who registered the final out of the 8th to end Italy's rally.

© East County Sports.com
BANGOR, Maine (8-13-12, 10:45 a.m.) — Lemon Grove Little League's Senior League All-Stars swaw eight different players drive in runs, including three by pitcher DEANDRE SIMPSON, leveling the Asia-Pacific champions from Auckland, New Zealand, 15-2 in five innings, in Monday (Aug. 13) morning's (PT) pool play ballgame in Little League Baseball's Senior League World Series at Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium. BOXSCORE

Simpson drove in all of his runs in the 1st inning. Following a lead-off double by center fielder BRAD MORENO, middle infielder ESTEBAN LIERAS (walk) and designated hitter RAY PETERSON (hit by pitch) reached to load the bases, with the trio all scoring on Simpson's booming double.

Lemon Grove then added three additional runs in the 2nd, two on a Peterson double, then invoked the run rule with a 9-run outburst in the 3rd, ignited by a leadoff triple by FRANKIE NUNEZ.

Holding a 15-1 lead over the ballclub from Bayside Westhaven L.L., coaches from Lemon Grove pulled Simpson from the mound to save his innings for later in the week. He still collected the pitching victory, joining Moreno and JAMES KELLY in a combined 5-hitter.

Simpson's walk-off winner propels Lemon Grove in World Series opener

© East County Sports.com
BANGOR, Maine (8-12-12, 9:45 p.m.) — Lemon Grove Little League's Senior League All-Stars opened the national tournament with a victory in its first of foul pool-play ballgames, downing what may potentially be its toughest opponent in the preliminaries following Sunday's (Aug. 12) triumph over South Beaches/Greater West Melbourne (Brevard County, Fla.), 4-3, at Shawn T. Mansfield Stadium. BOXSCORE

DEANDRE SIMPSON fueled the Far West USA champions with a walk-off, 2-run double, as Lemon Grove tallied three times in the bottom of the 7th to shock the Southeast USA titlists. Simpson's drive with two outs scored both ESTEBAN LIERAS (from first base) and BRAD MORENO (who was on second base).

Lieras, the second baseman, batted 3-for-4 and scored twice, including a first-inning run to open the scoring on an RBI single by designated hitter RAY PETERSON. In the 7th, Lieras singled home pinch-hitter CESAR PRECIADO, who reached on an error, then moved into scoring position on a wild pitch.

Lemon Grove and the team from Houston's West University L.L. are both 1-0 in the pool following the first day. LGLL needs to capture two of its next three games to advance to next weekend's semifinals. The remaining opponenets are ballclubs from Auckland, New Zealand, and Emilia, Italy.

The championship will be on ESPNU (Cox chl. 322) and online at ESPN3.com next Saturday (Aug. 18), at 11 a.m. PT. All tournament games are being conducted at Mansfield Stadium, which was funded by famed author Stephen King, a long-time resident of Bangor. Known as the Queen City, Bangor is celebrating its 10th year hosting the Senior League World Series of Little League Baseball, Inc.

© East County Sports.com
LEMON GROVE (7-31-12) — The Lemon Grove Senior League (ages 14-16) team from Lemon Grove Little League will play for the Western USA title this week after capturing the Southern California crown following a 2-game sweep of North El Rio L.L. of Oxnard, 7-4 and 8-1, in the final held at Littleton Ballpark in Ontario

This is the farthest a Lemon Grove Little League has ever advanced in playoff competition, covering a span on 55 years.

"This is the first time for our district to ever go this far, and we've got 10 leagues in our district," said manager ANDRE SIMPSON, a Mount Miguel baseball standout and former minor league pitcher who saw his team face Burlington, the Montana state champion, in Tuesday's (July 31) opener. "It's amazing what these kids have accomplished."

Starting pitcher DEANDRE SIMPSON, the coach's son, who tossed a shutout for The Rock during the SDCIF playoffs in a 3-0 win over Christian High this past spring, continued to turn it up a notch for Lemon Grove in summer action.

Simpson carried a perfect game into the 4th inning against North El Rio, lasting six innings and allowing just two runs on a pair of base hits on 11 strikeouts. Relief pitcher BRAD MORENO of Mount Miguel, a starting outfielder, mopped up to garner the save after earlier fueling the offense.

Moreno and middle infielder Esteban Lieras, the coach's nephew, both scored on a basehit by DOMINIK SAWYER (Mount Miguel) for a 2-0, 1st-inning lead. North El Rio would tie the contest, but Lemon Grove took the game back in the 4th.

ALEX ESTRADA (Grossmont) singled home RAY PETERSON (Helix) for the tie-breaking run, then Simpson came home on a based-loaded base hit by FRANKIE NUNEZ (Helix).

Two innings later, Simpson drove in a pair with a bases-loaded double to break the ballgame. Moreno and Lieras each batted 3-for-5.

In game two, Lemon Grove mounted an 8-0 lead to make life easy for Moreno, the starting and winning pitcher, who tossed 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball.

Once again, a 2-run rally in the 1st would ignite Lemon Grove, as Lieras doubled home Moreno (leadoff single), then a Simpson single brought home Lieras.

Sawyer registered a pair of RBI, while Brandon Weed batted 2-for-3 and scored a run.

At the Western Regional, Lemon Grove was placed in a pool with state champions from Arizona, Hawai'i, Nevada and Montana. The pool champions will meet Tuesday (Aug. 7) for the right to play for Little League's Senior League crown in Bangor, Maine.