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Sweetwater Valley wins Little League Baseball Regional opener

August 10, 2026

SAN BERNARDINO — Sweetwater Valley Little League used every bit of its experience from last week.

Seven days after claiming the Southern California championship with a 9-0 win at Al Houghton Stadium on Aug. 2, SVLL scored in bunches to defeat Northern California’s San Ramon Valley Little League 16-4 on Sunday afternoon in the opening game of the West Region tournament.

Sweetwater Valley’s Noah Kirk pitches during the Little League West Regional opening game against San Ramon Valley at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino on Sunday, Aug. 9, 2026. (Photo by Milka Soko, Contributing Photographer)

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“I told the boys, ‘You already have a leg up here because we got to play here (and) already experience the nerves, the stadium, the playing surface, everything,’” SVLL manager Steve Winnick said. “It’s mental more than physical at this point.”

Leadoff hitter Noah Kirk doubled off the top of the centerfield wall and went 2 for 3 with four RBIs, and cleanup hitter Grant Mielke hit the tournament’s first home run and had three RBIs as Sweetwater Valley totaled 11 hits.

“I just went up to the plate with the mentality that I’m going to hit liners,” Kirk said.

Isaac Ramirez tripled, reached base four times and scored twice, Tempe Tran doubled twice and had three RBIs, and Asher Giglio doubled twice, walked once and scored three runs in the win, SVLL’s ninth consecutive since the beginning of section tournament play.

“It just shows the depth of our lineup, but now we have to be ready for whoever is next,” Winnick said.

SVLL advances to play Hawaii on Tuesday at 6 p.m. The West Region championship game is Friday at 6 p.m.

“The goal is to get (Kirk) to pitch on Friday, so our plan today worked perfectly,” Winnick said.

The curveball continues to work for Kirk, who allowed two early runs but settled down and struck out six over five innings.

A week after striking out eight and allowing just two hits in 5 1/3 innings to beat Encino, Kirk set a dominant tempo by striking out the first two batters in a quick 1-2-3 first inning on Sunday.

He settled in after NorCal got back-to-back hits to briefly grab the lead in the second inning, permitting just one baserunner over his final three frames. He was pulled after the fifth on 75 pitches.

“I already experienced the mound so I just had to remember all the good spots to land and that got the curveball working,” Kirk said.

Mielke led off the fourth inning with a line drive that cleared the left-centerfield fence by inches, and SVLL went on to score six runs to take a commanding lead.

“I was halfway to second base when I saw it going over the fence,” Mielke said.

Mateo Ruiz reached base three times and scored two runs, and Teagan Cochran went 0 for 1 with a run as SVLL added to its lead with another run in the fifth and six more in the sixth.

Jesus Cuandra came on to start the sixth and got final three outs despite giving up two runs and two hits, one walk, an error and six of the seven batters he faced reaching base.

NorCal starting pitcher Mason Hall struck out five over the first three innings but lost steam after Mielke’s home run, leaving the game after an error gave SoCal a 9-2 lead in the fourth.

“They were able to stand their ground, take our punch, counterpunch and then some things started to snowball on us and got us a little out of sorts,” San Ramon Valley LL manager John Audino said. “We didn’t have the sharpest pitching performances and they took every bit of advantage that they could.”

Brantley Brazil’s double was the only extra-base hit as San Ramon Valley lost for the first time since its district tournament.

Sweetwater Valley wins Little League Baseball Regional opener Orange County Register

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Sweetwater Valley wins Little League Baseball Regional opener

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