El Segundo heads to Little League World Series
El Segundo's Little League team secured a Western Championship Friday, and advances to the Little League World Series after their hard-fought game in San Bernardino.
The team played Northern California champions, San Ramon's Bollinger Canyon, with El Segundo winning 3-1, sending them to Williamsport PA. All of El Segundo's runs were scored in the first inning.
The game was a rematch of El Segundo's 4-3 victory Saturday in the opener in the four-team tournament for both teams.
El Segundo hadn't played since defeating the all-star team from the Hilo Little League, the Hawaii state champion, 6-0, Monday.
Bollinger Canyon earned its spot in the regional's championship game with a 3-0 victory over Hilo Wednesday in the final of the elimination bracket in the modified double-elimination tournament.
There was a watch party Friday night at Rock & Brews El Segundo, with 20% of the sales going directly to the families of the players to help with travel costs.
El Segundo will begin play in the Little League World Series Thursday, facing the all-star team from the New Albany (Ohio) Little League, the Great Lakes Region champion.
El Segundo is 14-1 in four tournaments this summer. They are the first Los Angeles County team to win the West Region Tournament since 1994, when the all-star team from the Northridge Little League won and went on to win the U.S. championship with a team including future USC and NFL quarterback Matt Cassel.
One other team from Los Angeles County has qualified for the Little League World Series over that span.
The all-star team from the Torrance Little League qualified for the Little League World Series in 2021 when the World Series was limited to U.S. teams because of the coronavirus and each of the top
Two teams from the eight U.S. regions advanced to the World Series instead of just the champion.
