SAN BERNARDINO — Nearly every year in the Little League West Region tournament, Southern California takes on Northern California at some point.
On Wednesday night at Al Houghton Stadium, Fullerton’s Golden Hill Little League dominated Menlo Park’s Alpine Little League 11-0 in an elimination semifinal, moving on to a rematch against Hawaii in the West Region final tonight at 6 p.m.
“I think the score tonight is a little wonky but (Northern California) just ran out of pitching,” Golden Hill manager Joe Janicke said. “We didn’t start too hot, but it sure finished like an avalanche.”
Gavin Janicke struck out a tournament-high 14 batters as the Southern California 11- and 12-year-old champions ran away with a lopsided victory in the unofficial California championship game.
“I’m not only a proud coach but a proud dad,” Joe Janicke said. “When his fastball is on, he’s unhittable and he pitched a big game tonight.”
The matchups have been made more significant in recent years by the introduction of the double-elimination tournament. SoCal holds an 8-4 advantage over NorCal since 2010.
“There’s a little bit of bragging rights,” Joe Janicke said. “It feels good to be the best team in California.”
Janicke entered in the second inning a proceeded to strike out 14 of the next 18 batters he faced, allowing just one hit and one walk.
“He’s one of our horses,” Joe Janicke said. “I can’t say much more without getting choked up.”
Mixing the lineup for the third time in three games, Max Choi started the fourth inning with his first hit of the tournament. Lincoln Ploog followed with a hard single down the right-field line, and Choi advanced to third base.
Jacob Yun reached on a walk to load the bases before Evan Cho sent a roller up the middle and under the glove of NorCal second baseman Garrett Weiss to score Choi and Ploog to give SoCal a 2-0 lead.
“We’ll keep changing the lineup – this is the eighth time we’ve changed it this postseason – looking for guys that are hot or guys that are hitting the curveball better,” Joe Janicke said. “When they hit in the batting cages this morning, they were tearing the cover off the ball, and I just want to hurry and get them out there to the field.”
Golden Hill, which did not score for the first nine innings of the tournament, loaded the bases again off NorCal starter Max Turner before Jake Morris earned another walk to plate Yun with a third run for a 3-0 lead.
Ploog (3 for 3) added a two-run single as SoCal scored three more runs in the fifth off NorCal reliever Patrick Breslin for a 6-0 lead, then broke the game open with five more runs in the sixth with the help of RBI hits from Enzo Catato, Nolan Saldana and Kellan Tucker.
“I think we’re more confident than ever,” Saldana said.
Added Ploog: “Once we got runs, I was very confident because I knew Gavin would shut them down.”
Janicke, who struck out nine in a 1-0 loss to Hawaii on opening night, will be unavailable to pitch the final after throwing 58 of his 80 pitches for strikes.
“It means a lot to help the team get a win,” Gavin Janicke said.
Ploog, who has tossed five shutout innings in two relief appearances for SoCal, will get the ball tonight vs. Hawaii.
“I’m ready for it,” Ploog said. “(Hawaii’s) bigger hitters are really powerful, so I’ll try to stay away on the outside of the zone.”
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