By Barbara Brooks
InstantRiverside.com

A Riverside team is closer than ever to this year’s Little League World Series. Wednesday night, Magnolia Center will play Orange County’s Aliso Viejo in the title game in Southern California’s southern bracket, according to coach Dan Vaughan.

If the team wins its games Wednesday and Thursday at Murrieta’s Los Alamos Sports Park, it will face the winner of the northern bracket this weekend, Vaughan said.

Originally, there were approximately 600 squads vying for the top spots. Now, Magnolia Center is one of the final four in the Southern California playoffs, the farthest the team from Shamel Park has ever gone in its division.

If the team wins all its games in Murrieta, it will advance to the West Regionals in San Bernardino August 1-10, where it would face the top teams from Hawaii, Nevada, Northern California, Utah and Arizona; the divisional championship will be broadcast on ESPN. That winner then heads to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008