It started in June as a tournament of 400 teams, but as of this week that had been whittled down to just two.

The Claremont Little League 10-year-old All Stars took on Thousand Oaks in the Southern California State Championship final on Tuesday at Stearns Champions Park in Long Beach. Unfortunately, the boys will have to settle for runner-up status after falling to Thousand Oaks 10-6.

To get to the final game, Claremont won a rematch over Ocean View, 20-6 on Saturday. Then, on Sunday they got a 7-5 win over Sherman Oaks after Brady Bickham got a two RBI home run, with two outs on a full count.

“We just celebrated our 60th anniversary with three division titles, two section titles and a state runner up,” Claremont Little League President Jennifer Ballesteros said. “Brian Dorman, Steve Bickham and Marcos Mendez did a great job coaching these boys and we are so lucky to have men like them giving so much time and energy to our kids.”

Ms. Ballesteros noted that two all star managers, Brian Dorman and Nick Elias, played with CLL when they were younger, and another former player, Dillon Tate, got called up to the Major Leagues this past week.

All in all it was a great 60th anniversary for Claremont Little League.

CHS graduate Dillon Tate has Major League debut

Claremont High School graduate Dillon Tate made his Major League Baseball debut on Monday after the Baltimore Orioles called him up from the Eastern League Bowie Baysox last week.

Tate who, graduated from CHS in 2012, pitched for three seasons at University of California Santa Barbara before being drafted in the fourth round by the Texas Rangers in 2015. He was then traded to the Yankees in 2016 and joined the Baltimore franchise last year.

At his debut on Monday in San Diego, Tate entered the game as a reliever in the seventh inning. He had a difficult beginning, hitting Greg Garcia, then allowing an infield single to Manny Machado before Eric Hosmer smacked his second home run of the game. Tate then retired six of his next seven hitters, according to Baltimore Baseball.com. The Padres won 8-1.

—Steven Felschundneff

steven@claremont-courier.com