La Verne 11-Year-old All-Stars Take Opener, 3-0

Pitching Star Nick Lodolo kneeling with from left, hitting stars Alex Gonzalez, Austinj Shively and Kurtis Redman.

The La Verne Little League 11-Year-Old All-Star Team passed its first post-season test in sterling fashion with a 3-0 victory over Glendora American behind the 3-hit, 7-strikeout performance of lefthander Nick Lodolo and the timely hitting of Alex Gonzalez, Kurtis Redman and Austin Shively.

“Nicky is a fantastic pitcher, especially against a strong team like this,” said Manager Brian Shively. “This is a good-hitting team. Nicky is a pretty special kid for his age. He’s got some good stuff.”

In the bottom of the first, Gonzalez staked La Verne to an early 1-0 lead when he laced a two-out, two-strike double down the right field line, kicking up the chalk, that plated Lodolo who had led off the inning with a walk.

In the bottom of the third, Brogan White singled to lead off. Cole Soika forced White at second on a nice backhand stop by Glendora American’s J.J. Cowan. With one out, Gonzalez singled again, moving Soika to third, then stole second, to put runners on second and third. Shively went to his bench, where pinch-hitter Kurtis Redman promptly lined a single to center, scoring Soika. Shively went to his bench a second time, and this time Austin Shively delivered a pinch-hit single to score Gonzalez to make the score 3-0.

That score would hold the rest of the way with Lodolo mixing his fastball and change-up to keep Glendora off balance.

Pitching ace Nick Lodolo bears down in the top of the sixth.

“I’m proud of them,” Shively said. “One thing we have is depth this year. I’m not worried if we put our subs in. We just keep rolling along. Austin can catch for us and got a big hit. Kurtis had a big hit for us. They are key. The depth is right there.”

Shively likes what he sees and predicts there’s more to come.

“They played very well today,” Shively said. “They’re capable of an endless amount of wins for us. This is the first year we went to one team. It was fun to bring the kids together on one team instead of splitting them.

“It was good to watch them. They played good baseball.”

La Verne is back in action on July 2 at Merchant Park in San Dimas.

Gentlemen, great game, now it's back to work!