When Ocean View and El Segundo Little Leagues took the field in the final game of the 2010 Southern California divisional championship series, the two teams were evenly matched on paper. Each team had won once in the best-of-three series, with Ocean View grabbing an 8-6 victory in the first game, and El Segundo prevailing by a 1-0 margin in extra innings in the second game.

Each team had lost just once prior to that: Ocean View in an early-round game in their sectional tournament, and El Segundo when they were forced to the 'if' game in the North Sub-Divisional tournament. And both teams had reached the championship series on the strength of one-run victories in their respective Sub-Divisional tournaments.

But there was one factor that gave Ocean View a decided advantage.

"We knew we had our number one pitcher today, and we knew they were out of pitching," said Ocean View manager Tod Minato. "And our team scores runs in bunches. We don't play a lot of small ball."

There was nothing small about Ocean View's mercy rule-shortened, 10-0 victory in the deciding game at Tijeras Creek Elementary School in Rancho Santa Margarita. Pitcher Logan Pouelsen limited El Segundo to just two hits, and the first six Ocean View hitters all reached base and eventually scored in the second inning. The avalanche sparked an eight-run rally in which thirteen batters came to the plate, and essentially sealed the win for the Huntington Beach team. Ocean View won the Southern California championship for the first time since 2000, and for the third time in the league's history. The Southern California champions advanced to the West Region tournament, where they finished as the runner-up to eventual U.S. champion Waipio Little League from Waipahu, Hawaii.

"Logan (Pouelsen) pitched a great game," said Minato after the game. "The offense was tremendous tonight, especially after being shut out for seven innings the day before."

"The boys came in loose and confident," explained El Segundo manager Charlie Nootbaar. "But we basically didn't have the pitching we needed to win this game. We burned one of our best pitchers when we won the (North Sub-Divisional tournament), but we had to get here first. We knew it would be an uphill battle but when you face a quality team like this, you need your best."

Ocean View struck first when Nick Pratto delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the first inning, and Hunter Jackson unlocked the floodgates in the second with a two-run triple. Six more runs crossed the plate -- Steven Gingery scored twice in the inning -- as Ocean View left little doubt as to the game's final outcome. El Segundo kept the District 62 champions off the scoreboard in the third and fourth innings, but Chad Minato's run-scoring double in the fifth pushed the scoreline to 10-0 and ended the game.

"I honestly think Southern California is the most difficult region in the country," said Nootbaar. "And I think it's harder to win Southern California than it is to win in San Bernardino (at the West Region tournament). You can see that by the number of Southern California teams that have gone on to the Little League World Series."

The two teams were much more evenly matched the day before, when El Segundo pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to squeeze out a 1-0 victory. Gingery turned in a stellar performance for Ocean View, allowing no hits and striking out twelve batters through six innings of work. The right-hander retired sixteen batters in a row at one point, and did not allow a ball to be hit out of the infield.

"When Steven is on, there's nobody better," said Ocean View coach Sean Pouelsen. "He did everything we could have asked him to do today. We just didn't score any runs for him."

El Segundo starter Tyler Smith was equally effective, scattering five hits and pitching into the seventh inning while keeping Ocean View off the scoreboard. He escaped a bases loaded threat in the third inning by inducing an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play.

"I thought Tyler pitched fantastic," said Nootbaar. "He had his curveball working. He was getting ahead of the count and letting guys make plays behind him. I though he was exceptional."

"In seven innings, we struck out twice," noted Sean Pouelsen. "El Segundo made 19 defensive plays. Any team that can make that many plays and not allow a run deserves the victory."

With both pitchers in top form, the key to the game was a pair of at-bats in the bottom of the sixth inning. Gingery retired the first two hitters before Jake Palmer and Lars Nootbaar both drew walks. Gingery quickly ended the inning with a strikeout, but the walks helped to balloon his pitch count from 63 at the start of the inning to the maximum 85 at the end.

"Getting away from (Gingery) was huge," said Charlie Nootbaar. "When you have a pitcher that's throwing as well as he was, you do whatever you can to get his pitch count up. Those were great at-bats."

With Gingery shifted to another position, El Segundo finally broke through in the seventh. Shortstop Dylan McDonnell singled with one out, then advanced on Ryan Graner's single. After a strikeout Jackson Stone delivered a walk-off double to right center field.

The game's dormant offenses were a reversal of the series opener, when Ocean View broke to an early 6-1 lead and held on to top El Segundo, 8-6. El Segundo tallied a run in the top of the first inning, but Ocean View responded in the bottom of the frame. Pouelsen led off the inning with a home run, then Chad Minato singled and Gingery doubled before a sacrifice fly made the score 3-1.

In the second, Hunter Simmons singled and Michael Gates walked before Pratto slammed a three-run homer. El Segundo narrowed the scoreline with three runs in the third inning, before Gingery homered and Armano Duarte added a run-scoring double in the bottom of the inning.

"Scoring eight runs against a very good pitcher... is very satisfying, and is a very good sign of our offensive abilities," said Tod Minato.

Ocean View had showcased its offense in the championship game of the South Sub-Divisional tournament, when the Huntington Beach team overcame a pair of deficits to rally past Rancho Buena Vista Little League, 10-9. Ocean View scored five runs in the third inning to erase a 3-2 Rancho advantage, and after the visitors reclaimed the lead with six runs in the fourth inning, Ocean View pushed across three in the bottom of the frame to earn the victory. Gingery paced the offense with a 3-for-3 evening that included a three-run home run and four runs batted in. Ocean View had defeated the same team in extra innings in the opening round of the Sub-Divisional tournament, then edged a tough Victorville Ribbons team by a 4-3 margin to reach the title game.

El Segundo earned the title in the North Sub-Divisional, taking two of three meetings with Northridge City Little League among their three tournament wins. Lars Nootbaar threw 5-1/3 shutout innings in El Segundo's 3-0 victory over Northridge in the opening round, and after dropping a 9-0 decision to the same team in the first championship series game, El Segundo pushed across a run in the bottom of the sixth for a 6-5 victory in the final game. El Segundo starter Willem Mostert carried a shutout and no-hitter into the sixth, but Northridge scored five times in the top of the final inning to tie the score. Mostert then delivered a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the frame to lift El Segundo into the Southern California championship series for the first time in the league's history.