The Spanish Springs 11-year-olds knew they were in for an uphill battle if they wanted to advance to today's single-elimination bracket play.

The representative from Nevada closed out pool play Friday against the team that won regionals last year and had gone to the World Series.

Laguna Purple (Northern California #1) showed why they went undefeated in pool play this year, three-hitting Nevada in a 6-1 victory.

"They're a pretty legit team," Spanish Springs 11-year-olds manager Damon O'Connell said. "They shut us down."

Laguna Purple led by a slim 2-0 margin heading into the fourth inning, but broke the game open with a three-run home run.

O'Connell said that was the big blow of the game and his team played pretty good defense throughout.

Spanish Springs went 2-2 in pool action, but Laguna Grey's win over Southern California eliminated Nevada from any talks of advancing via tiebreakers.

"I'm very proud of my boys. There were some teams that beat us in the past that we beat this year," O'Connell said.

•Late Thursday night, the Spanish Springs 9-year-olds capped a winless showing at regionals by falling to Scottsdale 11-1 in five innings in the first round of the single-elimination bracket.