City officials like to call the city of Chula Vista the city of Champions. And on Wednesday it was exactly that as residents and supporters gathered at Memorial Bowl in Chula Vista to recognize five South County teams that competed in tournament play.
The Girls and Boys of Summer Celebration honored the Bonita Valley Girls Softball 10U Gold All-Stars; Bonita Valley Girls Softball 12U Gold All-Stars, who won the National Championship for their age bracket; and the Bonita Valley Girls Softball 14U Gold All-Stars. The Chula Vista South Colt All-Stars who won the Pony Colt West Zone Championship, and Park View Little League World Series after winning the 2016 Western Regional Championship were also greeted by suppporters.
Garrett Taylor,14, catcher for the Chula Vista South Colt All-Stars said it felt good to get recognized for their achievements because Park View Little League got all of the attention throughout the country.
“They were on ESPN and we were on some website,” he said. “In Little league there is a bunch of marketing, they get sponsors and they get broadcasted. Pony League is not like that.”
Santiago Garcia, outfielder for Park View Little League said despite falling short of bringing home a World Championship, he is still proud of the team’s effort.
“We’re still champions because we made it that far and that’s a huge accomplishment for Little League to have us come this far.”
The 13-year-old said since he’s returned to Chula Vista from South Williamsport, Pa. everyone seems to know him.
“I’m kind of like a movie star now,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of interviews and giving out a lot of autographs. It’s crazy.”
Although Santiago was clear across the country he said he felt the love and support of the Chula Vista community cheering the team on to victory.
Sophia Ramirez, 12, second basemen and backup shortstop, on the national championship team she is happy her team is getting respect for winning the national championship because she said most people are not aware that they are champions.
“A lot of the local people don’t know,” she said. “And I’m just like ‘we won Nationals’ and they are like ‘what’s that?”
Sophia said their championship title got overshadowed by the boys from Park View Little League.
“We were in like three or four newspapers and we were interviewed,” she said. “But when they (Park View Little League) lost they got like the front page on everything and we were like the second page beneath a subtitle.”
