North Venice All-Stars Slam Manhattan Beach

The defining moment of North Venice's 12-2 rout over Manhattan Beach in Wednesday evening's deciding game of the Little League Baseball Junior All-Star Section 4 Tournament was a grand slam home run in the second inning by third baseman Javier Garcia.

The blistering drive off the foul pole on the lower diamond at Bill Botts Field in Culver City gave North Venice a commanding 7-1 lead and the team's relentless lineup proceeded to score five more runs on its way to a six-inning mercy-rule victory and a trip to the Sub Division III North Tournament at Tehachapi Little League.

Garcia not only delivered the key hit on offense, he also delivered on the mound, keeping the opposition scoreless after relieving starter Tucie Shelp, who had reached the maximum allowable 95 pitches.

Shelp, Garcia, Isaac Yoshinaga and Matt Kassowitz each had two hits and Shelp pitched five innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with two strikeouts. Garcia came in and pitched a smooth final inning, not allowing a hit and striking out one batter. 

"We got to them early and didn't let them back into the game," said North Venice Coach Hector Santiestaban, who managed the game in place of first-year pilot Allan Hanckel. "The boys played with intensity and I'm happy that we won, but we have a long way to go."

Playing three games in three days ultimately took its toll on Manhattan Beach, which scored a run in the second and another in the fourth but made two errors and had three base runners picked off. 

North Venice opens Sub Division play against Section 1 champion Saticoy at 10 a.m. Saturday, with the winner advancing to meet Section 2 champion Encino at 10 a.m. Sunday and the loser playing Saturday at 6 p.m. against the loser between Section 3 champion South El Monte and Section 5 champion Golden Hill.

North Venice missed a chance to clinch the Section 4 Junior (ages 13-14) crown the previous night, rallying for three late runs to even the game before falling 8-7 to Manhattan Beach, the District 36 champion, on an error in the bottom of the seventh inning. That defeat forced Wednesday's rematch in the double-elimination bracket. 

North Venice beat Manhattan Beach 9-4 in the finals of the winner's bracket Sunday after beating District 27 winner San Pedro East View 11-6 in the first round. 

An error in judgment, however, led to Hanckel being suspended for the last two games because Kyle Brisacher didn't have his mandatory one at-bat Sunday. He would've batted sixth in the final inning but North Venice sent only four batters to the plate. Hanckel appealed the suspension, but it was denied.  

"We were the visiting team, it was still a reasonably close game and the big mistake I made was not inserting Kyle in the top three to ensure he got up," Hanckel said. "I rolled the dice that we would get runners on base and he didn't get in the game. I messed up." 

Hanckel and his coaches haven't picked the starting pitcher for Saturday's game but he admitted Shelp's strong outing Wednesday may alter how he sets his rotation.

"Tucie was terrific and that gives us more options," Hanckel said. "I just thought the boys were extremely focused [Wednesday]. It's rare that you have a lot of talent on one team like this but in the previous game we made costly errors and were spotty at the plate so it was really just a matter of demonstrating emotional maturity and not letting anything distract them."

The North Venice Little League Junior All-Stars are: pitcher Jesse Hanckel, catcher Matt Kassowitz, shortstop/pitcher Peter Rolon, first baseman Isaac Yoshinaga, second baseman Christian Kim, third baseman Javier Garcia, left fielder Tucie Shelp, center fielder Josh De La Rosa, right fielder Daniel Raygosa, pitcher/outfielders Kyle Brisacher and Bryant De Grate and infielder/outfielders Christian Santiestaban and Gyasi Washington.

North Venice qualified for the Section 4 playoffs by dominating the previous District 25 Tournament, outscoring its four opponents by a 49-9 margin and mercying West Los Angeles 13-3 in six innings in the final.

Click here to view the Sub Division brackets.