VISTA — After a grueling stretch of seven games in eight days, the Vista Little League 10U All-Stars came up just short of a Southern California 8-10 State Tournament championship on Friday night in Ontario, falling 5-2 to Sweetwater Valley Little League.
“A couple of us — myself and three other families — we literally lived out of the Best Western up in Ontario the entire time because I didn’t want to drive back and forth,” Vista head coach Michael Nucci said. “It was hard on the kids. We’d play a game at 7 p.m., not leave the field until 9:30, and some parents would get home at 11:30 at night — only to wake up at 4 a.m. for work and do it all again the next day. But not one complaint. Just love and support.”
The greater Vista Little League community showed strong support throughout the tournament. Tony Pepperoni off the Sycamore exit in Vista hosted multiple watch parties, with nearly 100 people tuning in to follow the games live via GameChanger. Additional watch parties were held at other local businesses, allowing families and fans who couldn’t travel to Ontario to stay connected and cheer on the team.
We had almost 100 people there watching us,” Nucci said. “They were able to see the GameChanger on the TVs, and after the game, all the kids ran up to the camera behind home plate, because they knew all those people were watching and cheering them on. It was awesome.”
Vista’s path to the state tournament began with a comeback victory over Point Loma Little League in the California Section 6 U10 Championship game on July 15 in Fallbrook, securing their spot among the state’s best.
Facing a demanding state tournament schedule, Vista was sent to the losers’ bracket after a second-game extra innings loss to Sherman Oaks (8-7). The team rattled off four straight victories, avoiding elimination and earning a spot in the championship game.
“We knocked out five teams,” Nucci said. “It took all 12 kids to get to where we were. Every single kid contributed to every win. There was no one big dog or star player — it was the whole team coming through. Whether it was Luke Williams hitting a clutch line drive to right center, or Cooper Cullity smashing a game-tying triple down the line, every kid found a way to make a difference.”
In the championship game, Vista struggled offensively against a pitcher who relied heavily on slow, curveball pitches — a style they hadn’t seen throughout the tournament. Despite their tournament-long offensive strength, Vista managed just two runs, while Sweetwater Valley’s used timely bunting and capitalizing on a few mistakes to build a 5-2 lead.
Fatigue also played a factor, as the punishing schedule caught up to Vista’s young players in the late innings.
Nucci said the team’s effort was valiant but acknowledged the challenge of facing a rested opponent after such a demanding stretch.
“We ran out of gas offensively,” he said. “We scored 58 runs in the tournament, and the team we lost to scored 29. You could see it in warmups — they weren’t playing every day, but every game you could see them getting more tired.”
The Vista Little League 10U All-Stars roster included (alphabetical order with uniform number): Tres Aviles (3), Cooper Cullity (50), Bodie Delmar (10), Braxton Engel (9), Lincoln Merrifield (22), Zane Meza (21), Luke Nelson (12), Brantley Nucci (23), Bowen Perretta (17), Barrett Williams (8), Luke Williams (5) and Lorenzo Wilson (19).
Notably absent from the roster was Brock Meza, a standout 10-year-old who had made the 12-year-old team in Majors play but broke his leg during a previous tournament.
“Brock, as a 10-year-old, was probably the best player in the whole league, and he would have been a great help on our team if he was there,” Nucci said. “He throws mid-60s. At 10 years old, he makes a 200-foot fence look like a tee-ball field.”
Though they fell just short of the championship, the Vista Little League 10U All-Stars left a mark. As Nucci reflected, “These kids gave everything they had, and their journey will inspire the next generation of Vista players.”
