July 29, 2025
FAIRFIELD — The Yocha Dehe World Series will be held at Laurel Creek Park beginning Wednesday as the host Fairfield Expos will use the first-year tournament as a primer for the upcoming American Legion Western Regionals.
Yuba City, Clovis, Chico and Sonoma County will join Fairfield for this week’s festivities. Fairfield and Yuba City kick off play at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Three games will be held each day Thursday, Friday and Saturday with a championship scheduled for noon on Sunday.
The Expos will also play 6 p.m. games against Chico on Thursday, Sonoma County on Friday and Clovis on Saturday.
“We have already told the teams that we will decline playing for the championship and put our focus on the regionals,” Fairfield manager Brad Hanson said. “We have a place in the regionals and the other teams won’t have that opportunity. We don’t want to be selfish. This is a big deal to them.”
The Yocha Dehe event is made up of Northern California teams affiliated with both American Legion Baseball and the the Western Amateur Baseball Association. Clovis and Yuba City have won the previous two state championships, respectively. Clovis reached the state finals again this year. Chico and Fairfield have also won multiple state championships.
Teams have the opportunity to expand their rosters and add additional players to make themselves even stronger. The winning team will be awarded a championship plaque and a 15-man all-tournament roster will also be named.
“This is our pilot year,” Hanson said. “This tournament will continue to grow and be one of the premiere events in Northern California. We host the regionals for at least two more years and will continue to participate in both big tournaments at the end of the season.”
The Expos carry a 65-9 overall mark and have set records for most wins, fewest losses and highest winning percentage. Fairfield won back-to-back tournament titles in June on its road trip to Montana. The team recently finished as a semifinalist as the host of the Area 1 tournament. Petaluma and Clovis advanced to the state finals as co-champions in Area 1.
Hanson said the current squad could go down as one of his best. This year’s team has a veteran presence with a number of college athletes and many other returning players. The Expos lost one of their top pitchers, Dallas West, to injury but feel a strong finish is still a possibility.
“We’re just going to gear up and see what we can do,” Hanson said. “The regionals will be tough. We open against Tucson, Arizona, next week and depending how we do in that game, we’ll face either Texas or Hawaii. But I think once we reflect back, we’ll realize this may be the best team ever. Not only because of the wins but because of the
chemistry they have playing together. We had a big team this year and had virtually no problems.”
Fairfield had a game Saturday and earned a 10-2 win over Yolo Post 77. Nine different pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts. Bryce Alcantara was 3-for-4 at the plate with four RBIs. Seth Tjaden had a single and a double.
The Western Regionals begin Wednesday, Aug. 6, and will also feature teams from New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and the California champion. The winner of that tournament advances to the American Legion World Series in Shelby, North Carolina, Aug. 13 to 18.