La Verne 12-Year-Old All-Stars Save Best for Last, in 6-1 Victory

La Verne's Joey Halabrin is an imposing force as he strides off the pitching rubber.

Sometimes, as in a good book or movie, you save the best for last. That’s exactly the script the La Verne Little League 12-year-old all-stars followed as they scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to pull away to a convincing 6-1 victory over San Dimas Friday night at Ted Green Park.

The rally started with one-out walks to Cordell Smith and Kenny Walker before Danny Gelalich laid down a perfect sacrifice moving Smith and Walker over to second and third. Garrett Weiss, who had been hitting the ball hard all night, wasted no time spanking a line drive single to left center scoring both Smith and Walker. Tanner Diebold followed with another single before Robert Peterson laced a triple down the right field line to score Weiss and Diebold. After Justin Gomez walked, Ice Carranza flied to deep left to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Peterson struck out the side to give La Verne the victory and a reservation in the championship against an opponent still to be determined.

“Fortunately, the kids came up with some timely hits,” said Manager Bobby Diebold. “We couldn’t string any hits together all game long. The key to that inning was the bunt by Gelalich to put the runners in scoring position. And Weiss has been hitting the ball all tournament.”

“Big Ticket” Joey Halabrin took the mound for La Verne, and though fighting his control early in the game, still surrendered just one run to a tough San Dimas squad. In the middle innings, his rhythm and form back in synch, Halabrin struck out five consecutive batters. Maxed out on his allowed pitch count, he exited the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth with two outs and two runners aboard. Petersen relieved and promptly got San Dimas’ Peter Lambert to ground out.  Earlier, Lambert had driven in San Dimas’ only run.

Robert Peterson shows the San Dimas catcher that the pitch that just whizzed by might have been a tad inside.

“Joey was on my team in the course of the year,” Diebold said. “The first couple of innings he tends to run his pitch count a little higher than we want him to, but he always manages to have a good third and fourth and manages to get us into the fifth all the time.

“Our pitching staff is very deep, so it’s comforting to know that when he runs out of pitches we’ve got some kids who can come in and throw strikes, especially with their off-speed pitches.”

Until the explosive sixth inning, La Verne clung to a 2-1 lead through much of the contest. In the first, LV pushed across one run with Ice Carranza delivering a two-out single to drive in Weiss who led off the game with a single. After San Dimas answered with of a run of their own in the bottom of the second, La Verne again edged ahead in the top of the third when Jake Tilton singled with one out and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch.

Hitting stars on the night were Weiss, Peterson and Gomez, who each collected two hits.

Now La Verne awaits to find out who it will play on Tuesday night, a championship in reach for some talented 12-year-olds who want to keep playing all summer long and stay on the road to San Bernardino and Williamsport, Pa.