Wall-to-wall Little League baseball

ESPN played five regional championship games back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back Friday, from the first game starting at 10 a.m., with the Midwest Region title game, to the West Region championship game from San Bernardino wrapping the coverage for the day with a 6 p.m. start.

Considering the Giants game wasn’t on broadcast television (thanks to a dumb MLB contract with Apple TV), the West Region final was a nice consolation prize.

And to be honest, it was some of the best and most exciting baseball I’ve seen all year — at any level. The day started with the Midwest Region final between those two ancient rivals: North and South Dakota. SD was in control for most of the game, leading 7-3 going into ND’s final at-bat.

So, of course, ND rallied for five runs to walk off with the win and punch its ticket to the LLWS.

The best game of the day, however, came in the Mid-Atlantic final, where Media, Pennsylvania and Northwest, Washington D.C. hooked up in one of the most brilliant pitching duels you will ever see.

Penn’s Austin Crowley and DC’s Grayson Liddle combined for 26 strikeouts, with each amassing 13 Ks. On top of that, both pitchers were working on no-hitters. Crowley did not allow a hit until the top of the fifth and Liddle had a no-hitter going when he reached his pitch-count total during the bottom of the sixth, walking the only batter he faced in the inning.

Liddle even had a rare four-strikeout inning. Having already struck out the first batter to open the fifth, he got a swinging third strike on the next batter, but the ball got away from the catcher and the batter reached first. Liddle proceeded to strikeout the next two batters to put the finishing touches on the rare four-K frame.

Neither guy factored into the decision in a game that Penn won with a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh.

In the Mountain Region finale, a 10-0 mercy-rule win for Nevada over Utah, Nevada starter Nolan Gifford was unhittable. In the four-inning game, Gifford recorded strikeouts on 11 of the 12 Utah outs. Only an error kept Gifford from a perfect game — a truncated one, however.

In the nightcap, the West Region title game, there was a bit of a rooting interest as San Ramon’s Bollinger Canyon took on El Segundo for the final spot in the Little League World Series.

El Segundo scored three runs in the top of the first inning and made them stand for a 3-1 win to grab its first-ever World Series berth.

The Little League World Series begins Aug. 17, with the championship game scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 27.

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Gregg Tafralis, a Capuchino graduate and former Olympic shot putter, died over the weekend at the age of 65, according to reports.

Tafralis was one of the world’s best during his career, making it into the top-10 in the world. He competed in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing ninth and in 1992 had the world-leading throw. But in 1995, he tested positive for steroids, drawing a two-year suspension. He tested positive again in 1999, drawing a lifetime ban. Regardless, in 2009 Tafralis was inducted into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. In 2010, Tafralis barely escaped with his life as he fled his home in the San Bruno pipeline explosion.

His children, Adam and Alexa, went on to stellar athletic careers at Mills in the early to mid 2000s. Adam Tafralis, the Vikings’ starting quarterback, led the team to its first Central Coast Section appearance in 2001, and would go on to star at San Jose State and had a stint in the Canadian Football League before retiring to help the family deal with the aftermath of the pipeline explosion.

Alexa Tafralis was a four-year varsity starter for the Mills girls’ basketball team.

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Nueva School golfer James Lee finished in a tie for 16th at the 118th Canadian Men’s Amateur, carding a four-round total of 5-over. His second-round 69 was his best of the tournament.

Lee, a junior for the Mavericks, will play one more tournament before he goes back to class. This week, he’ll be participating in the Canadian Junior Amateur.

In Texas last week, a couple of Peninsula standouts were participating in the Jack Burke Jr. Invitational. Eric Yun, a senior at Menlo School, shot 75-68-69 to finish at 1-under and finish in a tie for fourth, six shots behind the winner.

Edan Cui, two-time Daily Journal Boys’ Golfer of the Year, had an off tournament. He had only one round at par as he finished at 8-over and in a tie for 35th.

Meanwhile, 2023 Serra graduate Willy Walsh will delay the start of his freshman year at Pepperdine by participating in the USGA Amateur in Colorado, which began Monday. Pretty sure Walsh will get a pass from his Pepperdine coach — he’ll be on the bag for Walsh at the Cherry Hills Country Club this week.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: 344-5200 ext. 117. To report scores or tips, email sports@smdailyjournal.com.