CALEXICO — Last weekend, the local California Little League District 22’s 2025 season, which began for many teams in February, officially came to an end when three teams were eliminated from Little League Section 7 All-Star tournament action.

The three District 22 All-Star champions, the Calexico 12U All-Stars, the Imperial 11U All-Stars, and the Calexico 10U All-Stars, all picked up their second loss in Section 7 All-Star double-elimination tournament action.

Last Saturday night, the Calexico 12-Under All-Stars (10-12 years), who were hosting the 12U Section 7 tournament at Water Plant Park, were eliminated in a consolation bracket game after losing their first game on Friday night.

In their opening Section 7 game, the Calexico 12U All-Stars lost to the Rios Little League, representing District 41 by a score of 11-4, a score that did not necessarily reflect the nature of the game.

“We were behind 6-4 in the bottom of the fourth inning but we couldn’t get a hit with the bases loaded and nobody out,” Calexico 12U All-Star manager Francisco Martinez said. “The problem in that game was that three times we had the bases loaded and couldn’t score.”

Against the Rios LL 12U All-Stars, Robert Covarrubias, Julian Moran, Sebastian Barron, and Jovan Moran all pitched for the Calexico 12U All-Stars.

In their consolation bracket game on Saturday night, the Calexico 12U All-Stars lost the consolation bracket game in the double-elimination Section 7 Tournament to the Encanto Little League representing District 66, 7-6.

The Calexico 12U All-Stars opened the game by taking a 3-0 lead over Encanto in the top of the first inning, with the District 66 champions responding with three runs in the bottom of the first.

“In the bottom of the third inning, Humberto Sierra hit a bases-loaded single that drove in two runs to give us the lead,” Martinez said. “We were leading 6-4 in the fifth inning when an Encanto batter hit a bases-loaded double and we lost 7-6.”

For the Calexico 12U All-Stars, Sebastian Barron pitched all six innings.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, July 12th, the District 22 11U champion Imperial All-Stars opened their Section 7 All-Star Tournament playing the hosted District 41 Fletcher Hills Little League in El Cajon.

“Alex Guardado started for us and pitched the entire game, which we lost 3-0,” Imperial 11U All-Star manager Clay Benton said. “We gave an MVP award after the game to Jesse Pubillo for a catch he made of a hard-hit line drive at third base.”

Playing in a consolation bracket elimination game on Sunday, July 13th, the Imperial 12U All-Stars rallied behind the pitching of Braden Martin, who went the distance in their 5-1 victory over District 42’s Spring Valley All-Stars.

The victory over Spring Valley moved the Imperial 11U All-Stars into the consolation finals on Monday, July 14th, against District 66’s East Lake Little League All-Stars.

East Lake jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning before Imperial 12U All-Star relief pitcher Tatum Benton came into the game in the second inning and held East Lake scoreless for the next four innings.

“Tatum held East Lake, and we battled back in the fourth inning to score five runs with two outs,” Benton said. “Guardado hit a bases-loaded triple to highlight that rally.”

Unfortunately for the Imperial 11U All-Stars, their rally fell short as they were eliminated from the Section 7 Tournament by East Lake by a score of 12-5.

Also opening up their Section 7 All-Star Tournament on Saturday, July 12th, in Spring Valley at the Sweetwater Valley Little League were the Calexico 10 year-old All-Stars representing the Valley’s Little League District 22.

The Calexico 10U All-Stars opened their Tournament by dropping a 16-3 decision to District 41’s Fletcher Hills All-Stars, which put them in a consolation bracket game on Sunday against District 41’s Spring Valley All-Stars.

Against Spring Valley, Calexico U12 All-Star Luca Barron drove in four runs on two hits, a three-run triple, and an RBI single, to lead Calexico past Spring Valley by a score of 11-4.

Barron’s triple was part of a six-run first-inning outburst by the Calexico 10U All-Stars that included a two-run double by Ruben Sigala, Jr., and a run-scoring single by Sebastian Espinoza.

Barron was also the pitching star for the Calexico 10U All-Stars, giving up just three runs on five hits over three-plus innings, striking out three and walking four.

“It was the kind of game we needed… Luca was hitting his spots in pitching and kept us in the game that way, and also kept us ahead with his hitting,” Calexico 10U All-Stars under manager Mateo Sauceda said.

The win over Spring Valley advanced the Calexico 10U All-Stars to the Section 7 tournament’s consolation finals on Monday, where they lost for a second time to the Fletcher Hill LL All-Stars.

Calexico 10U All-Star pitcher Maykdel Jova took the loss, with Jova doing his part at the plate, going 3-for-3, while Arturo Garcia, Michael Castro, and Sigala each drove in a run.

The Calexico 10U All-Stars, after struggling somewhat in the field in their first game with Fletcher Hills, played errorless baseball in the rematch.

“That’s excellent for any team at this level to not have any errors,” Sauceda said. “We had some errors in the District 22 All-Star Tournament, so we emphasized defense when we prepared for the Section 7 Tournament, and it worked.”