Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Paradise Hills Minors All-Star Michael Torres leaps onto home plate after his teammate Connor Flanagan hit a three-run homer in the first inning against West Mesa. Paradise Hills scored eight runs in the inning and went on to win 15-5 on Thursday at Eastdale Little League.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

West Mesa Minors All-Star players gather their composure to receive souvenir pins after their loss to Paradise Hills.

Photo by Steven St. JohnTribune

Tribune

Paradise Hills pitcher Michael Hovermill reacts to a sharply hit ground ball against West Mesa. Paradise Hills advanced to the championship to face host Eastdale at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

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In their quest to change a little Paradise Hills Little League history and mold future tradition, the Paradise All-Stars face a familiar and time-tested District 8 hurdle.

Eastdale North Little League.

The good news for the Paradise Minors (9- and 10-year-old baseball) stars is that, thanks to a 15-5 win Thursday night over West Mesa, they play in the District 8 championship at 11 a.m. Saturday at Eastdale.

They bad news is they play Eastdale.

But Paradise Hills' Michael Hovermill isn't worried and is willing to throw out a little bulletin-board material.

"They are not going to win it this year," said Hovermill, minutes after Paradise Hills' trouncing of the West Mesa stars.

If Eastdale falls, it will be a big deal at Paradise Hills Little League. Little League records aren't exactly chiseled in stone, but Chris Orona, the Minors manager, says Paradise Hills has never won a district title.

Mike Kashinski, Eastdale's president, says his league has won at least five district titles in Minors baseball.

"We haven't won one at any level, baseball or softball," Orona said. "We've told the kids that, but we haven't been talking about a championship lately, because we've been too worried about playing one game at a time."

A few days ago, it didn't look like Paradise Hills would be talking about a district title or the Eastdale North team.

Eastdale South bumped Paradise into the losers' bracket of Pool No. 2 with an 18-17 win on July 2. The Paradise stars had to win five straight games, including a sweep over West Mesa, to climb out of the losers' bracket, win their pool and advance to the title game.

Paradise Hills beat West Mesa 11-4 on Wednesday to force Thursday's "if" game in Pool No. 2.

Eastdale North beat Sunset Little League 10-5 on Wednesday to go undefeated in Pool No. 1.

Saturday's battle is one game Í winner goes to state.

"I thought after losing to Eastdale, we would see some harder teams," said Paradise Hills' All-Star Cody Trujillo. "I was a little worried (being in the losers' bracket), but we have a strong team with a lot of strong pitchers.

"We were hitting the ball, not making errors, making our throws, making catches, and we have very good coaching."

Paradise's romp Thursday was paced by Connor Flanagan, who slammed a three-run homer in the first inning. Flanagan also had grand slams in Paradise Hills' first two games in pool play.

Flanagan said his homer Thursday "was a shot."

Hovermill took over the mound in the fourth inning and held West Mesa to two runs through the sixth and final inning.

"It was kind of tough when I came in, because they were kind of on a comeback," said Hovermill. "They had scored three when I came in, and then they scored two more to make it 13-5."

Hovermill said he believes a key to beating Eastdale North is to hit the ball hard and far.

"All of us can hit it over Eastdale's heads and, well, we have to hit it over their heads," he said. "They are very good."

Said Orona: "Eastdale is tough. They are Eastdale. Our kids have to come and battle and take it from Õem. But we really want it, and we play hard and with a lot of heart.

"We have some momentum. I believe in the kids, and they believe in themselves."