Summerlin South has Little League World Series in sights

Mountain Ridge excited Southern Nevada successful 2014 with its heavy tally successful the Little League World Series, which resulted successful being awarded the U.S. championship.

That remains the lone Las Vegas-area squad to marque the World Series.

Now Mountain Ridge rival Summerlin South is trying to go the 2nd squad to get to Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The rivalry has been enactment speech present that Summerlin South represents the state.

“They surely acceptable the barroom precocious successful ’14,” Summerlin South manager Todd Hutton said of Mountain Ridge. “What I emotion is they’ve got our backmost now, and they’ve thrown their enactment our way.”

The West Regional opens Sunday successful San Bernardino, California.

Summerlin South and Northern California received first-day byes. On Monday, Summerlin South volition play astatine 7 p.m. connected ESPN Plus against the victor of Sunday’s crippled betwixt Hawaii and Utah.

The title crippled is Saturday, and dissimilar erstwhile years, it’s not a winner-take-all format for a changeable astatine the World Series. Both teams successful the rubric crippled volition spell careless of the result due to the fact that determination is nary planetary tract owed to COVID-19.

COVID played a relation successful Summerlin South’s success. Many players decided to play Little League aft being forced to question to neighboring states Arizona and Utah to play during the aboriginal days of pandemic erstwhile organized sports were unopen down successful Nevada. The accidental to lessen the travel, Hutton said, was appealing.

He besides said his league has not viewed question shot arsenic the enemy.

“In different leagues, you didn’t person arsenic galore kids coming backmost to Little League,” Hutton said. “They conscionable didn’t person that aforesaid beardown necktie to the league that I deliberation our league has. We’ve had a beauteous bully tally successful the past 4 of 5 years successful our league, and I deliberation it’s attracted kids to travel backmost and play Little League.

“As a league, I deliberation we’ve done a bully occupation to clasp that we person to beryllium unfastened to both. Some Little Leagues person said, ‘We’re not nine friendly.’ We are. We’ve made it enactment for the past mates of years, and I deliberation it’s truly helped our league grow.”

Now those players person their sights acceptable connected qualifying for the World Series and past playing for the title.

It’s a heavy squad successful which seat players person delivered game-changing plays.

“I deliberation we tin vie with anybody,” Hutton said. “I don’t similar to peg america arsenic the favorites, certainly, but we’ve had a people connected our backs since the opening of this.”

Contact newsman Mark Anderson astatine manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 connected Twitter.