Sunnyside staves off elimination, will play Saturday night for a Little League World Series berth

Friday night, a pair of Sunnyside hitters rewarded his faith. 

Michel Muniz Jr. snapped a tie with a game-winning double to right-center field, and Sunnyside beat Northern California 3-2 in the Western Regional semifinals. 

Sunnyside, which has won three consecutive elimination games, will play Hawaii on Saturday night for a spot in the Little League World Series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.; the game will be televised on ESPN.

The teams have already played once this week. Hawaii's representative, Central Maui, defeated Sunnyside 6-5 on Monday in a game which went to an eighth-inning tiebreaker. 

“We want to get them real bad,” said Damian Lorta, who struck out seven batters in two and one-third innings and was the winning pitcher.

Sunnyside trailed Northern California 2-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth and final inning. Jordan Mayboca flied out to left field to open the inning, then Izaiah Moraga drilled a home run to left-center to tie the game. Northern California's manager argued that Moraga missed a base as he rounded them, but a video review proved him wrong. Like that, it was tied. 

“I came around the bases and it didn’t really hit me until I got to the dugout,” Moraga said, adding that he felt he floated around the bases. “My heart was pumping. We put too much into this for the season to end.”

Following a strikeout, Francisco Rivero Jr. singled. That brought up Muniz, who hasn't started a game all week and is typically used as a pinch-runner.  In a clutch situation, he came up big.

“I just wanted to hit the ball hard and make solid contact,” Muniz said.

Although he’s not a starter, Rivero — the coach —  felt comfortable with Muniz at the plate.”

“Muniz is our best pinch-hitter on our team,” Rivero said. “He believes in himself and has a great attitude as a pinch-hitter.”

Northern California's KC Tibbits led off the top of the first with a single against starting pitcher Juan Hernandez. The next batter was Chase Bentley, who hit two home runs in his previous game against Hawaii on Wednesday. Hernandez worked carefully against Bentley, who was called out on strikes.

Shane Maloney singled Tibbits to second, and Jace Kim followed with an RBI single. Beau Ogles hit a ground ball to Sunnyside second baseman Aciel Guillen. He got the force at second, but the double play couldn’t be completed and Maloney scored to give Northern California a two-run advantage.

Sunnyside got a run back in the bottom of the second when Jorge Zazueta opened with a double to left. He advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored when Rivero Jr. singled to center. The chance to tie the game ended when Rivero Jr. was caught stealing and Bentley retired the next two batters.

Check out photos of Sunnyside Little League at the western regionals: