Altadena’s Little – After the Eaton fire devastated Altadena and threatened the Central Altadena Little League season, organizers staged a comeback with borrowed fields, donated equipment and hundreds of kids—culminating in an improbable playoff run by the Braves and a documentar
For weeks after the Eaton fire tore through Altadena, Central Altadena Little League wasn’t a top priority for a town focused on survival. Then spring arrived, and the possibility of another loss—no baseball season at all—felt like another blow families didn’t have the strength to absorb.
A few weeks after the fire, parents, coaches, and organizers faced an overwhelming reality. They had no field. Most kids had no gear. Families were still displaced, scattered across the L.A. Basin in temporary rentals or with extended family. Yet despite those obstacles, hundreds of kids signed up.
Donations poured in to cover basic needs like gloves and bats and balls, and neighboring leagues partnered to provide field space. On opening day last year on March 1, nearly 20 Altadena-based teams kicked off what would become a historic season even before the final outcome was known.
Then, the league’s Braves team—10- and 11-year-olds—turned what looked like a long shot into a postseason run.. They pulled off a string of playoff victories that surprised everyone and. ultimately. won the division title for the first time in league history.. Robert “Trey” Milton III. a lifelong Altadenan and former Central Altadena Little League player who helped organize the post-fire comeback. described the feeling of wondering whether something special could happen.
“Kind of like when the New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl after Katrina, we were like, ‘Wouldn’t it be awesome if some special moment happened this year?’” Milton said. “And then it did,” he added, shaking his head, still in disbelief. “It was exciting.”
The highs and lows of that season—on the field and off—are now part of a new documentary.. “Going for Home” premiered earlier this year at local film festivals. including in Santa Barbara and Pasadena. and will make its community debut at a free. special screening Saturday at 7:30 p.m.. in Altadena’s Loma Alta Park.
“It’s a story about underdogs,” said Eric Simonson, the Glendale-based filmmaker who shot and directed the documentary. “This was a really bold step for them to defy the fire, all the effects of the fires, and say we’re going to hold our season anyway. It means that much to be together.”
That bond shows up in the film’s trailer through a young player’s plain. relieved excitement—“When I found out that we were gonna play. I was like ‘Yay!. I get something to take my mind off the fire,’”—before the story pivots to the Braves’ unexpected run.. In the documentary. the Braves’ playoff success becomes more than a sports highlight: it’s the first division title in league history.
It would have been difficult in any year, Simonson said, because Central Altadena Little League is among the smaller, less resourced programs in the area. But months after the Eaton fire, the achievement landed with extra weight.
“It was just incredible what they were able to pull off,” Simonson said. “And we felt lucky to be there. It’s one of those magical moments that a documentary filmmaker prays for, hopes for, to capture those moments.”
For Matthew Milton, Robert’s brother and an assistant coach for the Braves, the playoff surge still doesn’t feel fully real. He said the team rallied by digging in.
“They dug deep within themselves,” Matthew Milton said. “They were able to really just take a deep breath, not think about their home not being there. … They were able to say, ‘Let’s have fun right here, let’s work hard. … Here’s my joy.’”
He linked that kind of compartmentalizing—practicing focus amid disruption—to what it allowed them to do in the wider fight of daily life. “They learned on the field,” he said, “that gives you opportunity to keep on fighting for the real life stuff.”
Still, the season didn’t glide smoothly.. At one point early on. high levels of soil contaminants became a concern at fields across the region. almost derailing the whole season.. Coaches adjusted by working with unfit practice locations and finding ways to engage unsettled kids.. In the bleachers. parents commiserated about insurance battles. issues with landlords. and the strain of having to relocate again and again and again.. Even so, baseball stayed in place as a steady point in a shaky world.
“It was an escape,” said Sue Cremin, the film’s producer and Simonson’s wife. “It was community.”
The husband-wife team knew the league from when their own son played about a decade ago.. Over nine months. they captured footage that mixes raw. emotional interviews with families still grappling with the fire’s aftermath and lighter moments from the dugout—kids tripping over ball buckets or cheering for teammates.. Cremin said the film ultimately centers on “people fighting for joy.”
Even with that joy, the documentary doesn’t pretend the story has an easy ending. Brian Gardner, a Central Altadena coach for his son’s team—slightly younger than the Braves—described the imbalance between a triumphant game day and the ongoing work off the field.
“They have that joyous moment for the team because they win, but life still goes on,” Gardner said. “We’re still in Altadena, we’re still trying to put things back together.”
On a recent spring evening at Loma Alta Park. where the field has been spruced up by the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation since the league’s former home at Farnsworth Park remains unusable. Gardner said he couldn’t help smiling.. Still, he pointed out how quickly the mind returns to hardship when the game ends.
“When you get on the field, you’re not worried about bills and insurance and the banks,” Gardner said, tossing a ball to his son, Golden. “But it’s still a fight every single day.”
The pattern across the season is clear in the details: a lack of field space and gear after March 1 opening day led to donations and partnerships. then the Braves’ late-game and playoff success happened while soil contamination concerns and ongoing insurance and housing problems kept intruding into everyday life.
Altadena Eaton fire Little League Central Altadena Little League baseball documentary Going for Home Loma Alta Park Farnsworth Park Braves youth sports displaced families