Don’t be surprised if the champions of the 17th annual Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities World Series emerges from the west.

That’s the view of Shannon Williams, manager of the Los Angeles Junior Division team that fell short of qualifying in this past weekend’s Far West Regionals at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton.

“My prediction is that L.A. and the Urban Academy will play for the championship in the Senior (17-18) Division and the Academy team will win the Juniors (15-16),” Williams said.

L.A., by virtue of winning the Senior title a year ago, received an automatic berth in the Series that runs through Aug. 14 in Jupiter, Fla. at the Roger Dean Stadium complex, the spring training home of the Florida Marlins.

With a roster featuring such RBI veterans as outfielder Cameron Hart, a Crenshaw High School graduate now at the University of California, and UCLA freshman shortstop Adrian Williams, L.A. appears poised to defend its title.

Other standouts for L.A. include Crenshaw’s Kenji Corbisiero and Nicholas Bobbs, outfielder Josh Lovingood (Centennial), outfielder Jahmal Frazier (Centennial, L.A. Harbor College), first baseman/pitcher Eric Anderson (Inglewood, L.A. Harbor), pitcher Miguel Helguera (Roosevelt) and infielder Eddie Almeda (Roosevelt).

The Urban Academy team, which rolled through the regionals, is also loaded with talent from all over Southern California.

“They’re a good, well-rounded team,” Williams said.

As for the Junior Division Academy squad, Williams knows of what he speaks.

The Academy coasted to the title game by scoring in double digits every time out. They were finally tested in the finals by L.A., but still prevailed, 6-5.

“They will win the championship,” Williams, also the Compton College coach, said. “I haven’t seen a team like this in the World Series in a long time. There are hard outs all through the lineup. This is like a Yankee lineup. There’s no break anywhere.”

One of the stars of the Urban juniors is Crenshaw’s Ron Miller, who drove in four runs with a two-run single and two-run double against L.A. in the finals.

Another with local connections is Downey’s Andrew Arona, listed as a catcher, pitcher and third baseman.

James Bishop, one of Academy coaches and also the coach at Lynwood High, said the key to success in Florida comes down to two things.

“It will take consistent defense and good pitching,” Bishop said. “That always wins games and we have great pitching. I feel really good about our chances.”

The pitching staff includes Geoff Broussard from Cal Poly Pomona, Kerry Kelley from Palmdale, Cesar Aguilar from Fontana’s A.B. Miller and Marcos Lara from Long Beach Jordan.

Offensively, third baseman Mario Gordon from Long Beach Poly and infielder Andrew Disbrow from Apple Valley’s Granite Hills led the way at the regionals.

First baseman Pascual Garcia from Lynwood had two hits and two RBIs in Sunday’s title game, a 7-3 victory over Oakland.

Catcher Art Fernandez also represents Lynwood on the squad. Infielders Cesar Valtierra from Downey and Corey Akins from L.A.’s West Adams Prep have a chance to contribute in Florida.

“Pascual had a decent tournament offensively and defensively,” Bishop said. “It’s good to have a home-grown guy do that.”

Softball
The Los Angeles softball team wasn’t quite so fortunate, losing, 1-0 to Hilo, Hawaii in Sunday’s title game.

L.A. had the tying run on third baseman when the final out was recorded on a grounder to second.

Hawaii scored in the fourth on an infield out, then made it stand up the rest of the way.

Jessika Sandoval from Marshall High tripled in the second inning, but was stranded.

Westchester’s Leesa Harris singled in the sixth and got as far as third.

In the seventh, Crenshaw’s Brittnei Price got her second hit and moved around to third before Sandoval grounded out to end the game.