The District 20 Little League Majors All-Star Tournament began on June 25 when Lehigh topped its first opponent, Northwest, 19-1.

Southern Lehigh, the defending district champion, had a bye in the first round, facing its first opponent, Lehigh, on June 27.

“We have a lot of respect for this organization,” said Lehigh head coach Cory Kempinski of Solehi. “It’s a great rivalry. We compete with them in baseball and basketball every year. We know their guys, and they know our guys. We knew it was gonna be a tough game. It always is, and I’m thrilled with the outcome.”

Lehigh collected six runs over four innings while shutting out Solehi until the bottom of the fifth for a 6-3 victory over their district rival.

“I told the kids before the game that if we hit tonight, we were gonna win this, and we hit from top to bottom,” Coach Kempinski said.

Dallas Cruz had Lehigh’s first hit, and Joey Denisi’s RBI double put Lehigh on the board in the top of the first inning.

“It felt great,” Denisi said. “I just took off. I knew to go [to second base] because it was in the gap. I just wanted to beat them so bad.”

Lehigh pitcher Chase Dotta forced a ground out and threw two strikeouts in the bottom of the first inning, setting the stage for an outstanding performance by Dotta on the mound.

“I was mainly throwing fastballs, but I was also mixing in curveballs,” he said. “Just throw strikes. Super thrilled.”

Dotta tallied 8 strikeouts, and after reaching the maximum 85 pitches thrown, teammate Anderson Ryzewski closed out the game, also with a strikeout.

In the top of the third inning, Lambros Dontas’s RBI plated Lehigh’s second run. Cruz’s 2 RBI single to left center field, and Ryzewski’s RBI double extended Lehigh’s lead.

Zane Balaziuk led off the fourth inning with a ground rule double to center field, and Carter Kempinski’s RBI was Lehigh’s final run of the game.

Southern Lehigh scored its first two runs with bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth inning and added one run in the sixth on a bases-loaded single.

Lehigh remained in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament while Solehi dropped to the loser’s bracket.