New Little League tournament starts Saturday at Ford Field New Little League tournament starts Saturday at Ford Field (June 15, 2005)

The Alpine/West Menlo Little League will host the first "Tournament of Champions of District 52," starting Saturday, June 18, and continuing through Tuesday, June 21, at Ford Field in Portola Valley.

The tournament involves four of the 17 leagues in District 52 -- Alpine/West Menlo, Menlo-Atherton, San Carlos and Half Moon Bay.

The champion teams from those four leagues will play in the single-elimination tournament at Ford Field.

The two local champions are Lutticken's, representing the M-A league; and Hengehold Trucking, representing the Alpine league.

Lutticken's beat Anderson, 7-2, at the Saturday, June 11, M-A league championship game at Burgess Field. Lutticken's regular season record was 13-7 prior to the playoffs; in addition, it won the three playoff games. Highlights of the game will be in a future issue of the Almanac.
Why the new tournament

The tournament provides an opportunity for all-star players to pitch in a local contest among league champions.

Dennis Di Ricco, a member of the board of the directors of the Alpine/West Menlo Little League, said the tournament was created to address a problem:

There is a conflict between the annual July Fourth championship game held at Burgess Park -- which involves the championship teams of the Alpine and M-A leagues -- and the Little League World Series all-star playoffs.

Once the playoffs begin, the all-star team members cannot pitch in any other games.

This wasn't a problem in the past because the playoffs started after the July Fourth contest. But now the playoffs start earlier. This year, the District 52 playoffs start July 2.

Alpine pulled out of the July Fourth contest last year because its top pitchers couldn't play due to the playoffs rule.

The new tournament at Ford Field was scheduled prior to the playoffs to avoid this problem.

In addition, the Alpine and M-A leagues plan to hold the traditional July Fourth contest at Burgess Field this year -- even though any all-star players are unable to pitch, said Di Ricco. But there is a new rule that allows the two championship teams to substitute pitchers from other teams in the leagues.
Ford Field tourney

Opening ceremonies for Saturday's Ford Field tournament start at 9 a.m. Saturday with a welcome by Mark Greenstein, president of the Alpine league; team introductions by the team managers; and the national anthem.

Play starts at 10:30 a.m. with the Alpine and Half Moon Bay champs competing. At 1:30 p.m. the M-A champs play the San Carlos league champions.

The consolation game will be played Monday, June 20, and the championship game, Tuesday, June 21, both at 5:30 p.m.

The District 52 Little League World Series playoffs begin July 2.

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