SAN BERNARDINO — The self-proclaimed “Cardiac Kids” from Torrance Little League have a heart that pumps fastballs past opposing hitters, and it has them headed to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Gibson Turner struck out a tournament-high 15 batters, and Torrance scored six runs in the seventh inning to defeat the Northern California champs from Petaluma, 6-0, on Friday in a West Region semifinal at Al Houghton Stadium.
Regardless of what happens in Saturday’s 11 a.m. regional final against the team from Honolulu, Hawaii, Torrance has clinched its first berth in the 16-team Little League World Series in Williamsport.
“We are the ‘Cardiac Kids,’ (and) that’s just the way we play,” Torrance manager Javier Chavez said. “Today came down to who was going to be the undisputed champs of California, and Torrance boys pulled it off.”
Grant Hays drove in two runs with a single as part of a six-run seventh for Torrance (3-1 overall), the Southern California champion in the 11- and 12-year-old Major division.
International travel restrictions have limited this year’s LLWS to domestic teams only, meaning all Little League regional finalists advance to Williamsport. This will be the 49th time a team from Southern California will be represented but the first time an L.A. County team makes the trip since Northridge in 1994.
“We’re all super excited right now,” Turner said. “Our adrenaline is pumping and we’re all still super excited because this really is a dream come true for all of us.”
Torrance has advanced out of the elimination bracket for the third consecutive tournament.
“We have first-class tickets to the East Coast. The game against Hawaii will be a like a dream, to be honest,” Chavez said.
Turner struck the side in the first, third and fourth innings, and had two strikeouts in each of the second, fourth and sixth innings before he was pulled following his 15th strikeout.
“He’s been fired up since Thursday night and had the stone-cold look on his face,” Chavez said. “He was lights out. This is one of his best performances to date.”
Turner added: “I was just trying to throw hard, and my team was playing good defense.”
Dominic Golia entered with two outs in the sixth and induced a ground out to end the inning. The Torrance pitching staff has allowed one run or fewer in three of the four games it has played in San Bernardino.
Giovanni Castaing did a good job of matching Turner, striking out nine in 5-1/3 shutout innings for Petaluma, which lost to Hawaii, 13-3, on Thursday to drop into the elimination bracket.
Torrance’s Dycen Miyake singled to center to start a two-out rally in the seventh off of Petaluma reliever Will Hale that broke open the game. Torrance sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.
Turner pushed across the first run with a bases-loaded walk, and Andrew Nuruki and Hays followed with run-scoring singles to put the game out of reach.
Golia allowed a hit and a walk but struck out two to retire Petaluma in the bottom of the seventh to earn the victory.
Hays has two RBIs in each of his last three games for SoCal, and leadoff hitter Xavier Navarro has reached base in every game of the West Region tournament.
