Baseball Champions from La Mesa: Majors, Minors Take District Titles

If any of Steve McClure’s advanced-placement English or psychology students at Monte Vista High School want to know why their teacher wasn’t at graduation Thursday night, there’s a reason. He was being showered with icewater after his La Mesa National Little League team won the District 33 Tournament of Champions.

His Minors division Pirates beat the Mission Trails Phillies 13-2 in five innings at Damato Park in Tierrasanta.  The game might have been won in the fourth inning (of a six-inning game), but the Phillies scored a run in the bottom half of the inning to make it 10-1 and avoid the 10-run mercy rule.

McClure, 45 and a La Mesa resident, has coached Little League for 13 years, but this was his first season in La Mesa National, guiding players 8-10. He saluted their personalities and called them “a bunch of very nice boys.”

In the nightcap, the Majors division team from La Mesa National made it a two-fer—as the Phillies beat the Allied Gardens Diamondbacks 11-0 for the District 33 title. Next up: a series of All-Star contests that could lead to  Williamsport, PA, and the Little League World Series.

Local leagues serving La Mesa:

• Fletcher Hills Little League
• Lake Murray Little League
• La Mesa National Little League
• Rolando Little League