FARMINGTON – The finals for the 2025 Connie Mack World Series is set, with the defending champion Southern California Renegades looking to repeat as champions Saturday night at Ricketts Park where they will face Dulins Dodgers.
Casey McGinnis and Anthony Del Angel combined for four hits and six runs batted in as the Dodgers rolled past the Midland Southwest Bulls by a score of 10-1 in the final semifinal game of the tournament in front of a massive crowd.
The need for a second straight game between these two teams resulted from a Bulls win earlier on Friday, in which they rallied from a four-run deficit to top the Dodgers by a score of 8-5. The Dodgers loss in that game was their first in the tournament after having won each of their first two games in bracket play.
The Renegades, looking to become the first repeat CMWS champion since the Midland Redskins of 2017 through 2019, fought off elimination Friday afternoon with a 2-1 win over D-Bat United. The Renegades, coached by Si Pettrow, lost their only game of the tournament on Thursday, falling to the Dodgers by a score of 9-6.
Facing the Bulls in the late game Friday night, the Dodgers were able to command proceedings early. Starting pitcher Cade Allen was perfect through 2⅔ innings before issuing a 2-out walk to Cody Kropp in the bottom of the third inning.
The Dodgers scored a run in the top of the first inning, then padded their lead with a pair of runs in the second inning. Logan Corley scored off a one-out triple by Anthony Del Angel in the first inning before Carson Sharp scored on a sacrifice bunt and Ashton Ballew drove in Kolt Larsen in the second inning, giving the Dodgers an early 3-0 advantage.
Casey McGinnis led the Dodgers attack in the bottom of the fourth inning with a 2-RBI double that scored both Larsen and John Clark. The Dodgers scored again when Ballew scored on a fielders choice, pushing the lead to 6-0.
The Bulls simply had no answer for Allen through five complete innings. The senior from South Gibson (Texas) High and commit to the University of Tennessee gave up only two hits and two walks through five innings, throwing only 69 pitches in the process.
McGinnis laced a triple to centerfield that scored Clark, then scored on his own off a fielding error to extend the margin to 8-0 with only one out in the sixth.
Del Angel, who is playing his way into the conversation for CMWS’s Most Valuable Player award, drove in another run with a double off the wall in left field that scored Austin Allen for a 9-0 lead.
“At the beginning of the season, we thought it was going to be that our pitching that was going to lead us,” said Dodgers coach Chris Godwin. “Now the bats have gotten hot at the right time and the pitching is still going strong.”
Allen ended up throwing a complete game, meaning the Dodgers have a plethora of options on the mound going into Saturday’s championship game, which will be played at 8 p.m. The Renegades will be the home team in the game.
