Championship bracket play did not treat the Spanish Springs 11-year-old, 70 feet Cal Ripken All-Stars well on Monday. Spanish Springs, which breezed to victories in its first three tournament tilts in pool play, fell 7-1 to Laguna of Elk Grove, Calif. in its bracket opener.

Spanish Springs took a 1-0 lead with its lone run of the game in the top of the third inning. Cole Drescher doubled and scored three batters after when Parker Kittilsen roped an RBI double.

Unfortunately for Spanish Springs, that's all the offense it could muster. The local squad was limited to four hits in defeat.

"There was nothing overwhelming about their pitching," Spanish Springs coach Damon O'Connell said. "They threw a lot of off-speed stuff. It seemed like our kids just came out flat. We'd been hitting the ball all tournament."

Laguna answered with three runs in both the third and fourth innings to take control of the contest. Laguna tacked on its final run in the bottom of inning five.

Spanish Springs continues play in the double-elimination championship bracket Tuesday at noon. The Sparks squad will face Los Altos of Long Beach, Calif. in the mid-day affair.

"We've just been encouraging to the kids," O'Connell said. "We told them we're good enough to win this tournament, but we can't have games like we had today with the mental errors and where we don't hit."