They’re the champs! As a result, for what seems like the first time ever, we’re not the chumps.
Yep, San Diego, we finally won something. Not just a big game, important series or a division title. Nor a pennant or conference title. But the whole ball of wax!
So how about a big thanks to the kids from Chula Vista? Little League World Series champions for a city that has never been champion in anything.
When do we get our parade? It was a question I asked in the headline of a story I wrote on the website back in mid-June. Turns out the answer is: this Friday.
In case you hadn’t noticed, America’s Finest City has also been one of America’s Losing-est Cities for many, many decades now.
The last time the Padres played in a World Series (and, of course, they lost it), Luke Ramirez was two-years old (through probably already 6-feet tall). The Chargers last opportunity at a World Championship (a Super Bowl loss to the 49ers) came three years before any of the Blue Bombers from Park View Little League were even born. The SDSU football team hasn’t had a winning season since Kiko Garcia and Andy Rios were blowing out their first birthday candles (as if they could even have done so).
Mostly, for San Diego, it has been one bitter pill to swallow after another. Every now and again, hope would rise up before being swallowed hole by a bumpy Matt Holiday slide at the plate, a Marlon McCree fumble, injuries to LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers, or some other thoroughly frustrating trick of the Gods.
But not this time. Not with these kids. A curse over San Diego’s sports teams? What curse? Next thing you know the Aztecs are going to open their season with a win over UCLA. The Chargers are going to be sizing up for rings in February. The Padres are going to be World Series contenders by March.
All right, all right. So maybe we shouldn’t get too carried away. But after the magic ride Chula Vista just took us on, you can’t help but think perhaps anything is possible. After all, what were the odds a bunch of 12-year-olds would be the ones to finally provide San Diego with a title?
Not only did they win it all, knocking off Chinese Taipei, 6-3, on Sunday afternoon in South Williamsport, Penn., in the championship game, but they did it as a team, in the truest sense of the word.
Of course, there was Rios, the shortstop and pitcher, who reached base every single time he batted over the final three games, hit five homers in the series, and started the remarkable bases-loaded double-play on Sunday which effectively ended Taipei’s last threat.
And there was Garcia, who pitched four hitless innings of relief in the title game and pounded out an amazing 15 homers in 11 tournament games. And, of course, who could forget Ramirez, the big fella, who hit rain-making three-run homers in both the quarterfinal and semifinal games (and was the complete-game winning pitcher in the semi as well)?
But there was also Bulla Graft, who homered twice in the semifinals and drove in the go-ahead run in the championship game. And Nick Conlin, who scored the game-winning run in the classic quarterfinal victory over Warner-Robins Georgia, and then came through with his only hit of the World Series (a double) to trigger Sunday’s game-winning rally.
The No. 9-hitter in the lineup SethGodfrey hit three homers in the series, and keyed a two-run insurance rally in the championship game with an RBI double. Oscar Castro, the coach’s son and third baseman, turned in several key defensive plays throughout the week, one of which was the starting of a slick double play in the top of the 6th against Georgia, which set the stage for the game-winning rally in the bottom of the 6th.
Center fielder Markus Melin, who was at the plate when the Bombers beat Georgia on a wild pitch, turned in a diving catch for a double play in that thrilling victory as well.
For the parents of these remarkable youngsters, it had to be the stuff of dreams. And we thank them, too, for at least for a few days they were kind enough to share their kids with us. Sure these Park View kids were their kids, but they were ours also.
Yes, the Chargers regular season begins in a couple of weeks. The Aztecs open their season this coming Saturday. The Padres still have September to play.
But for now — and for how much longer nobody quite knows — San Diego is a Little League baseball city. And champions at last.
– Ello
