Championship Season: Lemon Grove Faces Hawaii for Shot at World Series

The Lemon Grove Senior Little League All-Stars came from behind Monday to defeat Sunnyvale National for a tight 3-2 win. The team will go up against Hawaii for the Western Regional championship Tuesday night at Jay Littleton Ballpark in Ontario, CA.

Playing in 106° F heat, the All-Stars trailed 0-2 early in the semifinal game. But pitchers Frankie Nunez and Deandre Simpson proved to be too powerful for Sunnyvale. Batting by Brad Moreno and Dominik Sawyer evened things out, and second baseman Esteban Lieras drove in what would be the winning run with a double in the fourth inning.

Simpson will take the mound tonight. At stake is a berth in next week’s World Series in Bangor, ME.

The Southern California champs were beat by Hawaii in a 6-3 loss Sunday that left the team down but not defeated. The matchup was the only loss they suffered during the tournament, which began July 31.

Manager Andre Simpson told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: "Our kids did a good job of forgetting about Sunday's loss and did their jobs. They definitely want a shot at redemption and want Hawaii and we feel like we can beat them if we do our jobs.”

Hawaii won its semifinal faceoff against Oregon 17-3 yesterday.

The All-Stars shut down Montana 18-1 to take the July 31 in the 2012 Little League Baseball Western Regional Senior Tournament. They continued their winning streak by , and .