La Verne 10 All Stars, in alphabetical order: JAKE AGUIRRE, TREVOR CATON, KENNY COULSON, TYSON HEATON,NICK HENDERSON, JOSHUA OBREGON, CODY MODEROW, LUC PEIFER, SEAN POWELL, CHASE SIFFERT, STEVEN VASQUEZ, AND SAM WOLFE

In the finals of the 10-year-old District 20 championship, La Verne trailed 1-0 entering the bottom of the first before scoring an avalanche of runs to defeat Glendora American 18-1 and earn the right to play in the section tournament at Briggs Field in Ontario beginning next Saturday at 11 a.m.

Starting La Verne pitcher Sean Powell battled his control through the first four batters he faced, surrendering a single, double and a pair of walks to give up a run, but righted the ship after a brief chat from his manager John Heaton.

In the bottom of the inning, La Verne quickly evened the score after Cody Moderow walked and was driven in by Steven Vasquez. Powell then lined a two-run homer over the right field fence to take a 3-1 lead, and La Verne never looked back.

In the same inning, Trevor Caton doubled. Jake Aguirre pinch ran for Caton and moved to third on a wild pitch. Tyson Heaton then walked. With runners on the corners, Heaton broke for second, and on the throw-down, Aguirre ran home from third with La Verne’s fourth run of the inning.

La Verne put the game on ice in the second with eight more runs. Both Heaton and Chase Siffert hit two-run doubles to key the big inning.

To find other hitting stars, you could look anywhere on the La Verne roster. Josh Obregon was a perfect 2-for-2 with a pair of singles, Powell went 3-for-3, adding a pair of singles to go along with his two-run homer. Caton was 2-for-3. Siffert was 2-for-3. Kenny Coulson had a pair of RBIs.

La Verne won its previous game, no-hitting Claremont 15-0 with a spectacular game-ending catch by Aguirre in center. In that game hitting stars included Sam Wolfe, 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Powell, 2-for-2 with three RBIs, and Caton 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Overall, La Verne outscored its competition in the District 20 championship 58-3.

“It was fun,” said La Verne manager John Heaton. “But we don’t take anything for granted. Starting next Saturday, we’ll be facing teams that did pretty much the same thing in their tournaments.”

Regardless of the competition, La Verne will be playing with lots of confidence.

“We’re pretty good,” Heaton admitted. “We know we’re going to hit but when we pitch and play defense the way we did today and all through the tournament, we’re really tough.

After the ball game, visit Pizza Barn in La Verne for great pizza and the Ultimate Sandwich!