Late-inning HR lifts Summerlin South into U.S. championship game of LLWS

Garrett Gallegos led Summerlin South with his powerful pitching arm throughout the team’s postseason, then did it with his bat Thursday.

The reliable cleanup hitter hit a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning that easily cleared the right-field fence, lifting Summerlin South to a 5-3 victory over Irmo, South Carolina, in the losers bracket final of the Little League World Series at Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Nevada team, representing the Mountain Region, advanced to the U.S. championship game at 12:30 p.m. Saturday against Fairfield, Connecticut, of the Metro Region. The game will be televised on ABC.

The winner will play for the LLWS championship against Taipei (Chinese Taipei) or Santa Cruz (Aruba) at noon Sunday on ABC.

Summerlin South is the second Nevada team to reach the U.S. title game. Mountain Ridge advanced in 2014.

“A big part of it was focus,” Summerlin South coach TJ Fechser said. “Eighty percent focus, 20 percent fury.”

Gallegos’ blast negated Irmo’s short-lived 3-2 lead, which came as the result of a bases-loaded walk in the fifth inning.

“Garrett’s been working real hard looking for good pitches,” Fechser said. “And he took care of business.”

Gallegos, who had two hits and four RBIs, said his winning homer was the experience of a lifetime.

“Almost tears,” he said. “My mindset was just to do my job and find a way to get that run in, but it ended up being a big hit that led us to the win.”

Starter Cache Malan buoyed Summerlin South in the early innings, allowing five hits and striking out seven in 4⅔ innings. He struck out five consecutive batters at one point.

“I’m proud of my pitching staff, but Cache has been biting at the bit to get in,” said Fechser, whose top two pitchers were unavailable because of rest restrictions. “He showed up to compete, just like we knew he would.”

A first-inning leadoff double by Ethan Robertson and a two-out RBI double by Gallegos gave the Nevada team a 1-0 lead, but Irmo answered with a Brody Miller home run in the second for a 1-1 tie.

Jayden Lee gave Summerlin South a 2-1 lead in the third inning when he scored from third base on a double steal.

But Joe Giulietti tied the score again with a solo home run off Malan in the fourth inning, and Irmo took the lead on the bases-loaded walk off reliever Luke D’Ambrosio in the fifth.

Gallegos put Summerlin South in front for good with his blast in the sixth. Reserve catcher Gray Miranda, who was behind the plate after an injury to starter Dustin Greusel, picked off a runner at second base to effectively end any threat in the sixth.

“I never really knew we’d be playing for the U.S championship,” Malan said. “But I had a feeling we were going to make it. Now we’re in the championship fighting to be the best team in the USA.”

The Nevada team is 14-1 in postseason play and 4-1 in the LLWS. Two of its wins were against South Carolina, the Southeast Region champion.

The U.S. championship game will be a rematch of Wednesday’s game, a 7-3 Connecticut victory. Gallegos, the team’s ace pitcher, is expected to start Saturday with the season on the line again.

Contact Jeff Wollard at jwollard@reviewjournal.com.