Let The CA District 42 Battles Begin!!
- Updated: June 27, 2018
(The artwork above showcases the “three-headed Chula Vista/Bonita monster”.)
During the past five years, Chula Vista’s Eastlake and Park View Little Leagues, and their neighboring Sweetwater Valley Little League in Bonita, have each competed in the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA. Now, those three super heavyweights shall battle against each other in a war of titans.
In Get Ready For SoCal’s Little League Baseball Tournament, Southern California’s favorite rabbi/Little League blogger wrote: “The three Chula Vista-area leagues mentioned earlier all compete in District 42, by far the most competitive district in California, and perhaps in the entire world, making that the most compelling local tournament to watch. Therefore, CSN will focus much attention on District 42, its teams, players, and tournament games.”
Well, gear up, because California District 42’s incredibly-competitive tournament starts this coming Sat., Jun. 30, with four big games slated. Park View Little League’s baseball field hosts two games that day, starting at 10 am when Eastlake LL faces San Diego’s Luckie Waller LL. At 1 pm, Park View’s team hosts Imperial Beach LL of Imperial Beach. If Eastlake and Park View each win their respective opening contests, those two baseball giants will clash in what must be described as an epic event the following day, Sun., Jul. 1, again at PVLL. The winner of that battle would advance to the district’s semi-finals slated for Thu., Jul. 5, at Sweetwater Valley Little League.
District 42’s tournament finals are scheduled for Sat., Jul. 7, at SVLL’s ballpark. If necessary, a second and absolute final game will be held on that same field the following day, Sun., Jul. 8, with the winner taking home the title no matter what. What this sportswriter terms the “three-headed Chula Vista/Bonita monster” has accounted for every District 42 title starting in 2008, with Park View and Sweetwater Valley each having claimed the prize four times, while Eastlake captured it twice. To say those three powerhouses dominate that district is a gross understatement.
Whichever league muscles its way out of that district’s tournament instantly becomes a heavy favorite to represent Southern California in the West Region tourney held at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino. Of SoCal’s 39 district winners, only 10 will reach the final round of Southern California’s all-star tournament, after the field of competitors is further reduced during what is termed geographical “sectional play”. For each of the past nine years, the three-headed monster has claimed a spot among those 10 finalists, and in five of those nine years, the monster reached the championship game to be among the last two remaining teams in all of Southern California.
To put that accomplishment into perspective, we must realize that SoCal’s tournament includes leagues from 12 counties, stretching from the Mexican border up to and including all of San Luis Obispo and San Bernardino Counties, and parts of Kern County whose borders SoCal shares with its neighbor NorCal. The Southern California tourney even includes Inyo County to the northeast, and even way up in friggin’ Mono County which parallels San Francisco and Sacramento!
(The blue defines the most dominant of Little League’s 52 “states” in America. On the youth baseball organization’s US map, California and Texas are each divided into two states, Washington DC is considered its own state, while North and South Dakota are combined into one state, for a grand total of 52. Southern California has won three US championships during the past 10 years, which is the most among all 52 “states” during that time. Plus, SoCal has sent six teams to S. Williamsport during those 10 years despite playing in the West Region, which is by far the most competitive of the eight regions in America, as the West has won six of those past 10 national titles. More on that in a future article. Stay tuned !! Artwork courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
This native Southern Californian would like to know who thought it made sense to stick Northern California’s Mono County Little League in as part of SoCal. Actually, I figured out the reason using Google Maps, as although that league located in Mammoth Lakes is far closer to San Francisco than it is to Los Angeles, nevertheless, due to the mountains blocking Mono County on its west, believe it or not, LA suddenly becomes a shorter drive from Mammoth Lakes. Bizarre, right?
The obvious problem would become if Mono County LL were to ever represent SoCal in the West Region tournament while Kern County’s Arvin Little League in Arvin, which according to my calculations is 169 miles to Mammoth Lakes’ south, were to rep NorCal. I am guessing if that would ever happen, then that would mark the final year of Little League enforcing its silly-looking boundaries, and we would see a brand new map configured for the following year.
In any event, Chula Vista/Bonita won four of those five Southern California championship battles in which it fought over the past nine years, and then reached S. Wiliamsport all four times, where the monster won two US titles and a world championship. Simply remarkable. It is fair to say that the three-headed monster combines three of America’s strongest Little League programs.
Eastlake is District 42’s reigning champ, as last year that league reached SoCal’s championship game. In 2013, Eastlake won the US title. The district’s first heavyweight contender is Park View which has gone to S. Williamsport twice in the past nine years, winning the world championship in 2009. The next contender is Sweetwater Valley which finished third in the US in 2015.
As reported by CaliSports News last week in Abby Steffen, Sweetwater Valley’s First Female All-Star, this summer marks the return of Manager Ward Lannom who skippered SVLL during its 2015 run. Despite not having any children of his own still playing in Little League, Lannom returned for the “challenge” and “for the love of the game”, he told CaliSports News during a sit-down interview conducted at SVLL immediately following Sweetwater Valley’s very first 2018 all-stars team practice, held on June 10, the first day after the league’s Majors season concluded on June 9.
“I like being back at the helm of the all-star team. It is an adrenaline rush, and I had never thought I would step foot onto Sweetwater Valley’s fields again, at least not for Little League,” Lannom said.
(The Sweetwater Valley Little League all-stars gather around Manager Ward Lannom, standing in the center wearing a gray t-shirt, for instruction during SVLL’s first 2018 practice, held June 10, on its home field in Bonita. Photo courtesy of Rabbi Rabbs.)
Lannom is a class act. The night his team got eliminated during the World Series, a rumor circulated that the opposing pitcher had thrown spitballs, by allegedly reaching for a lubricant behind his head after each pitch. Reporters immediately asked Sweetwater Valley’s manager to comment on the accusations, and Lannom replied at that time that the rumors had not come from him and that he wanted nothing to do with those accusing the other team of cheating. As far as Lannom was concerned, the opposing team had won fair and square. When I retold that story to the manager, he responded with the following:
“Most games are lost by the losing team, but in that game, they beat us,” Lannom recalled.
Three years later, the returning manager was more than gracious to make time to speak one-on-one with this CSN writer. I asked Lannom to tell us about this year’s Sweetwater Valley team, and he shared the following:
“I was pleasantly surprised, especially with this team’s power. The ball is flying off of their bats, especially considering this year’s bat rule change,” Lannom said, referring to Little League adopting new high-tech synthetic bats that behave closer to that of their wooden counterparts than they do to the traditional aluminum bats that have apparently produced too much offense over the years for the liking of many youth baseball organizations.
Having attended that first practice session, I tend to agree with Lannom’s assessment. That day, Rabbi Rabbs watched young Sweetwater Valley players launch multiple rockets out of the SVLL ballpark during batting practice. To prepare his batters for facing the nation’s best Little League pitchers, Lannom said he plans to implement the same strategy he used in 2015.
“Why fix what is not broken? Our approach worked last time. We will make a few minor adjustments, though. It also helps having (his son) Walker and a few other players from the 2015 team show up to practice. They are mentoring these young players on the mindset and dedication that it took to travel that long road,” Lannom said.
The Bonita league’s esteemed manager is working his players hard with daily marathon practices that have reportedly lasted up to almost five hours, and has liked what he has witnessed.
“It is nice to see their athleticism, as a lot of these players have all of the tools. No matter how far we get in this tournament, it will be fun to follow these kids as they close this chapter and start playing high school ball,” Lannom said.
But, the skipper told CSN that the real keys to success in all-stars are in building camaraderie among the players, and for those players to know and accept their various roles on the team.
“You have to be more lucky than good, and it will be nice if we can be lucky, good, and all get along. There are only nine positions on the field, and we are carrying 13 players, so someone must sit. Time will tell. Hopefully, we are still in the tournament in mid-July so we can resume this conversation then,” he said.
Sweetwater Valley starts its tournament play at 10 am Saturday against Chula Vista National LL of Chula Vista at Chula Vista American LL’s field in guess where? Chula Vista. Gah, that sounds redundant. The winner of that match will play on Sunday on that same field against the winner of Saturday’s 1 pm Chula Vista American vs. San Diego’s Southwest LL scrap.
CSN will follow those games and all of District 42’s upcoming action. Stay tuned !! Let the battles begin !!
(Artwork courtesy of Reliance Entertainment.)
Until then, Let’s Go SoCal !!
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2 Comments
About Rabbi Rabbs
Ruben
June 29, 2018 at 7:29 pm
Great article! It’s not often a read can actually feel the writers passion. I’m looking forward to more like it!
Rabbi Rabbs
July 1, 2018 at 11:00 pm
Thank you so much for reading the article, and for taking the time to leave such a wonderful comment. Very much appreciated! Thanks for your support. Glad you’re enjoying. 🙂