Crescenta Valley 10-11 baseball stars lose slugfest to Encino

A day after pounding out 15 hits for 13 runs, the offense kept firing away for the Crescenta Valley All-Stars 10-11 baseball team.

Problem was, the Encino All-Stars had a little more firepower on Sunday morning in the Section 2 10-11 Tournament at Sherman Oaks Little League, as CV fell into the loser’s bracket with a 15-10 defeat.

“It was really a slugfest,” said CV Coach Dean Baker, who got home runs from Trent Steele, Sam Kunz, Nico Koury and Chuck Meyer. “It was really a battle of the bats.”

In all, the game featured a whopping nine home runs, but Encino had five.

Crescenta Valley, the visiting squad, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, but the advantage was short-lived for the District 16 champion. Encino, the District 40 champ, bounced back with seven runs in the bottom of the first, thanks in part to some costly errors by CV.

“From that point on, we were playing catch-up,” Baker said.

Crescenta Valley is now hoping to catch up to Encino in the tournament final, as it will now play either San Marino, which it defeated, 13-0, in the opener, or West Lancaster in an elimination game on Monday at 5 p.m. The winner will advance to the championship at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.