Crescenta Valley Junior baseball heads to championship game

There’s a building momentum behind the Crescenta Valley Little League Junior All-Star baseball team that may very well propel the squad to an improbable title.

After dropping the opening game of the Division 3 North Tournament, Crescenta Valley has responded with three straight elimination-bracket victories, the latest a 9-6 triumph over Ontario Mountain View on Thursday at Santa Paula Little League.

With the win, the District 16 and Section 2 titlist earned a spot in Saturday’s division championship game against unbeaten Section 1 champ Dos Pueblos at noon at Santa Paula Little League.

Since it hasn’t lost a game in the tournament, Dos Pueblos can clinch a title Saturday with a victory. Crescenta Valley, on the other hand, would need to win Saturday to force a winner-take-all finale on Sunday at 9 a.m.

Both teams have yet to face each other in the tournament. The winner of the Division 3 North Tournament will advance to the Southern California State Championship, which begins July 28 at Manhattan Beach Little League.

“The goal has always been for us to represent Southern California in the state tournament and we’re almost there,” Crescenta Valley Coach Bryan Rich said. “I’m really proud of the guys. We came back and we just kept fighting.”

It appeared the end was near for Crescenta Valley, which opened the tournament with a 13-5 drubbing at the hands of Section 3 champion Mountain View on Saturday at St. Bonaventure High.

Mountain View appeared on the verge of another rout as the visiting squad scored four runs in the first and one run in the second inning to go up, 5-0, after two.

“You have to tip your cap to Mountain View, they were a really good team,” Rich said. “They scored all five runs with two outs and nobody on in both innings. They did a great job.”

Crescenta Valley responded with three runs in the third inning and then pulled ahead with three runs in the fourth to go up, 6-5.

After a scoreless fifth inning, Crescenta Valley added three more runs in the sixth before Mountain View scored a final tally in the top of the seventh.

Chris Lawson turned in a clutch effort Thursday afternoon.

The Crescenta Valley pitcher relieved starter Chase Smith in the third and allowed one run on five hits in five innings with five strikeouts.

“Chris did a really great job and I think momentum started to turn for us in the third inning,” Rich said. “We just tried to climb back little by little, but when we got back those three runs, it was a big deal.”

Smith smacked a two-run double in the third inning, while Will Hardy also had a pinch-hit run-scoring single in the three-run third.

Crescenta Valley right fielder Trent Steele threw out a base-runner at third to preserve a scoreless fourth inning, while Brian Harley came through with a clutch pinch-hit, run-scoring double in the fourth inning.

Vinnie Parrott had a double and three runs batted in for Crescenta Valley, while David Melendez finished with two singles and two RBI. Chad Ruf added a run-scoring single for Crescenta Valley in the seventh while the No. 9 hole for Crescenta Valley (Harley, Isaac Sun and Sam Kuntz) scored three runs.

Thursday’s victory improved Crescenta Valley’s playoff record to 8-2, while the team is now 4-0 in elimination contests.