‘Green Machine’ is best in the West, off to Williamsport for Little League World Series

Park View Little League celebrates winning the West Regional (Photo from Park View LL Website)

Until the fifth inning of last night’s West regional final in San Bernardino, it was a game uncharacteristic of Chula Vista’s powerhouse Park View Little League squad.

In a 3-3 game in the 5th inning against Lakeside LL of Granite Bay in Northern California, the Park View kids were involved in a heated battle the likes of which they had never seen in the entire tournament. In previous games, Chula Vista hitters made opposing pitchers look like they were pitching batting practice — scoring nealry 100 runs in just six games.

On national television for the first time (ESPN2) and in front of more than 13,000 fans — many of whom made the trip up from the San Diego area — the kids showed the country their ability to absolutely crush the competition and look to be an early favorite in Williamsport simply for their monster power hitting and shut-down pitching.

Right when it looked like the game would come down to the wire and possibly head into extras, the “Green Machine” from Chula Vista exploded for eight runs in the last two innings and finished off the Granite Bay team by a score of 11-4, punching their ticket to the Little League World Series for the first time. They will be one of the sixteen teams making the trek to WIlliamsport, Pa., out of the original figure of 6,500 when the elimination process began earlier this summer.

Astonishingly, the team had never even been close to the Little League World Series in its previous 40 years of existence. The closest it had ever come was the sectionals — about twelve wins short of their accomplishment this year.

The squad now enters pool play in the Little League World Series, where four teams in each pool play eachother, with the top two teams of the pool advancing to the knockout round.

The Green Machine enters Pool B with three other teams: New England (Peabody LL, Mass.), Southwest (McAllister Park American LL, Texas) and Great Lakes (Logan County/Russellville LL, Ky.). Here’s the schedule of games for Park View LL:

West v. Great Lakes
Saturday, August 22
5 pm (Pacific)
Lamade Stadium

West v. New England
Sunday, August 23
3 pm (Pacific)
Volunteer Stadium

West v. Southwest
Tuesday, August 25
5 pm (Pacific)
Lamade Stadium

From everyone at the Entertainer, good luck to the kids in Williamsport. We’ll all be watching!