The Chula Vista community gathered Wednesday afternoon at Memorial Bowl in downtown Chula Vista to formally recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of five youth sports teams that advanced to national-level tournaments this summer.
There was indeed much to celebrate.
•Park View Little League’s 12U all-star team took a once-in-a-lifetime journey to the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa.
•Chula Vista South Pony League qualified a team to compete in the Colt League World Series in Lafayette, Ind.
•The Bonita Valley Girls Amateur Softball Association 12U Gold all-star team captured the ASA Western B National championships in Kingman, Ariz.
•The Bonita Valley Girls Amateur Softball Association 14U Gold all-star team placed fifth out of 52 teams at the ASA Western B National championships in La Habra.
•The Bonita Valley Girls Amateur Softball Association 10U Gold all-star team finished 13th out of 29 teams at the ASA Western B National championships in Medford, Ore.
Chula Vista South Pony League President Omar Castro said it was nice to be recognized in a larger forum. While the 2009 Park View and 2013 Eastlake Little League World Series teams received recognition from city officials at Southwestern College and Sleep Train Amphitheater, respectively, both the Chula Vista North Pony-13 and Chula Vista South Pony-13 World Series champions only received an audience in the City Council chambers.
“It’s great to be recognized by the city,” Castro said. “We may not get TV exposure but I’m glad the city noticed the talent we have at Chula Vista South Pony and we are proud to be from the city of Chula Vista.”
What Chula Vista South accomplished this summer was truly amazing. After winning the Pony-13 World Series last year, the team elected to move up a division (bypassing Pony-14) and compete at the Colt League level. Despite giving up an average of two years in physical and mental maturity to opponents, CV South progressed to win championship titles at the region, super region and zone championship tournaments. The team received a fourth banner as a participant at the Colt League World Series.
CVS finished 1-2 at the Indiana tournament, winning its first game against the South Texas Sluggers by a score of 14-9 (after leading 14-0), but dropping its next two contests to Aruba (12-8) and Hoosier North (4-0) to suffer elimination. The Chula Vista team held an early 5-1 lead in the game against Aruba and trailed just 1-0 against Hoosier North into the bottom of the fifth inning.
Tijuana went on to defeat Hoosier North, 6-5, to win this year’s Colt League World Series championship.
“It was a great experience and I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Chula Vista South manager Valentin Luna said.
Along for the ride this year with CV South was Dante Schmid, who participated in last year’s Little League World Series with Sweetwater Valley.
“The team played hard and came up a little short, but I am proud of them for challenging themselves,” Castro explained. “It was an incredible journey. Our Colt team did an amazing job. They were 14- and 15-year- olds going up against 15- and 16-year-olds. I believe they executed that challenge and more by winning regionals, super regionals and zone. I believe the credit goes to manager Valentin Luna for keeping most of the World Series kids together and bringing in kids to fill in; he is a great coach who deserves all the credit.”
“After the second loss we were done,” Luna added in reflection. “At that point a couple boys said … ‘We’ll be back next year!’
There could be a sequel.
Valley girls
The 12U championship was the 13th national softball title in 20 years for the Bonita Valley organization. The team last won a national championship in 2009 — the same year the Park View Blue Bombers won the Little League World Series. While the Blue Bombers were receiving adoration in front of 10,000 well-wishers at DeVore Stadium, the Bonita Valley team was holding an awards ceremony on park benches.
There was no parade, no stadium appearance, no fanfare. It hurt.
This time around, the three Bonita Valley teams received a robust round of applause every time their names were mentioned at the announcer’s podium or asked to stand up for recognition. It was an overdue gesture on the city’s part, but well received.
It’s hard to argue with the numbers. Bonita Valley’s 12U team won six tournament championships this summer and finished with a 40-8 overall record.
“To see where they are now is truly remarkable,” team manager Kiyoshi Moody noted.
The Little League World Series obviously commands attention because of its widespread television appeal. All 30 games at this year’s Little League World Series were televised by the ESPN network, including four games on over-the-air broadcast network ABC-TV. While millions of viewers around the world had access to Park View’s three games in South Williamsport, softball fans were shut out.
ASA also holds four regional national championship tournaments, which further limits interest.
Joaquin Farfan, a coach with the Bonita Valley 12U Gold all-star team, wondered even back in 2009 why ASA didn’t have a standalone World Series event for its team.
“Why couldn’t our team go a step further and play in a World Series?” Farfan asked. “Anyway, us coaches, the league and the parents, and especially the girls, are happy that they are finally getting recognized and honored by the city. We had a very tough team, mentally and physically, and a huge team in size. We had size, speed, pitching and everything else — a very talented squad.
“The girls started before school was out and finished playing after the new school year started — three to four months of top tier softball, endless hours of practice, endless hours of conditioning getting ready for the summer heat and the crazy hot, out of state weather in Arizona, endless swings of the bat and endless fielding of ground balls and endless work.
“We are glad that they are getting recognized. These groups of girls play and practice just as hard, if not harder than the boys. They are tough and ruthless on the softball field, and they don’t cry! Well, sometimes. They are tough, though.
With many injuries to some top starters during the season, we found a way to win … especially when it was needed. We are honored. The girls deserve it so much after three to four months of grueling practice and 10 total tournaments.”
The 12U all-stars motto was “win as one.”
The 14U all-stars finished with a record of 30-11; the 10U all-stars finished 35-9-1 while playing a total of 45 games. The 14U team was the last squad from San Diego to be eliminated in the tournament.
Green Machine
Park View proved to be the stars of Wednesday’s youth appreciation event. Chants of “PV-LL! PV-LL” from the team’s vociferous fans drowned out even the applause.
“Our journey was a long one,” Park View manager Jorge Camarillo explained. “We started in early June and it took two months to get to Williamsport. It was a dream come true — a fun ride the boys took over the summer. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They took us all on this ride.”
Park View, this year’s Little League World Series West Region champion, dropped its first game at famed Lamade Stadium by a 5-1 score to Iowa’s Johnstown Little, the Midwest Region champions. Park View avoided elimination with an ensuing 5-0 victory against McAllister Park American Little League from San Antonio, Texas, the Southwest Region champions.
But Park View could not remain in contention for a trip to the championship game after suffering a 4-2 setback to Southeast Region champion Goodlettsville Baseball Little League from Tennessee.
Victor Lizarraga threw a two-hitter with nine strikeouts in recording Park View’s only official win in the tournament. The team hit two home runs in LLWS play — one by Devin Hinojosa (against Texas) and one by Lucas Marrujo (against Tennessee).
The games were too close to call at many points. Park View had what would have been the winning run in its game against Tennessee thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Still, the memories will remain a lifetime.
“It was a really cool experience,” Lizarraga said. “Even when we got eliminated, we hung out with the other teams. We played ping pong and watched the other games on TV in the rec room. It was really different meeting the international teams — seeing how they talked, stuff they wore and how they ate.”
Lizarraga admitted the victory over Texas was pretty up-lifting. “It was pretty cool because we got more fame and people had more faith in us that we could keep going.”
“It was just a really cool experience just hanging out with your friends from the other teams,” Park View pitcher Ju Ju Padilla said.
Park View did not end its 2016 Little League World Series odyssey with a loss, however.
Park View scrimmaged Caribbean Region champion Pariba Little League (Willemstad, Curacao) after both teams were eliminated from the challenger bracket. Park View won 6-5. Santi Garcia hit two home runs while Marrujo also homered.
Four pitchers took the mound for Park View: Adriel Colmenero, Ali Camarillo, Anthony Soto Jr. and Daniel Leon.
“It was interesting to see their batting stance, how they pitched and how they communicated with each other,” noted Lizarraga, who caught the game. “They were pretty aggressive.”
Leon’s mother Eve was among the large group of Park View parents and relatives who made the cross-continent trek to Pennsylvania to watch the team play. In fact, she remained at the hallowed playing site through the end of the tournament, watching Maine-Indwell (N.Y.) complete a magical 24-0 season with a 2-1 win over South Korea in the championship game.
“It was electrifying,” Eve Leon said. “I thought the entire atmosphere was positive. You felt very patriotic because of the New York team (in the championship game). People were cheering ‘USA! USA!’ all through the game.”
The elder Leon estimated the attendance for the LLWS championship game at around 45,000. “It’s hard to tell how many people were on the hill,” she said.
Park View finished its LLWS run with a final 19-4 record, excluding the scrimmage win over the Caribbean.
“It was an unforgettable experience, it was surreal,” she said. “It was a dream of my son and the dream of the other boys to play in the Little League World Series and, for us to experience it, it was our dream as well.”
