Conejo Valley All-Stars triumph as District 13 champs

By Kyle Jorrey Acorn Sports Writer

JUBILATION-The Conejo Valley All-Stars surround Danny Leon after he finishes his home run trot around the bases. With the 11-0 win over Pt. Hueneme, the team captured the District 13 title and took another step toward a shot at the Little League World Series. They play again on Saturday.

Just minutes after his third inning home-run shot put the Conejo Valley All-Stars ahead comfortably, 10-0, over Pt. Hueneme, shortstop Danny Leon took the now-scuffed ball, which will almost certainly find its way to a bedroom mantle, and handed it to his proud mother.

This simple act of gift-giving in the waning moments of last Saturday’s District 13 Little League championship game reflected the spirit of what the youth competition is all about—playing baseball, making memories and putting a smile on mom and dad’s face.

With the 11-0 win, Conejo Valley advanced to the sectional tournament to be held in Goleta, not Santa Paula, as was originally scheduled.

Head Coach Tom Ginther, who helped lead this group to a 10-and-under state title just two years ago, said his squad just loves to compete on the diamond.

"We’ve got a bunch of mellow kids. They’re not real cocky, they just go out and play ball," Ginther said. "They’re just like ‘hey, let’s just go play another game. If we win, we go on to the next level.’ That’s just how this group is.

"I remember when the kids were 10-years old and won the championships they didn’t even know how to celebrate when they won the game," he added.

Led by a balanced offense attack, the Conejo bats came alive in the second inning off a hard-throwing Pt. Hueneme pitcher. With two outs, the team put together six straight hits, including a homerun by Cody Thompson and back-to-back triples by John Lister and Evan Ocello. They totaled eight runs in all.

"Our bats came alive today, the offense finally woke up," said Ginther, whose team advanced to the title game with a hard-fought victory over Northside of Oxnard. "It was a good ball game . . . our big boys rose up to the occasion today, and we capitalized on some good pitches. The boys were selective, and they got the job done."

Sean McIntyre pitched the shutout for Conejo Valley, striking out the side in the game’s final two innings with a well-placed mixture of speeds. According to the team’s coach, he is just one of the all-stars’ six quality pitchers.

"I give these kids the opportunity to take ball and go the distance. We’ve got five or six guys that can throw for us, and at anytime I’ve got the confidence in all these kids and any pitcher to go and do their job for me," Ginther said.

Coming into the tournament, which was the first step on the path to the Little League World Series, word around the area was that Conejo was the odds-on-favorite, and the group of 12 didn’t disappoint. Ginther said a lot of the credit for the team’s early success has to go towards the time spent in practice.

"I think we prepared the kids physically and mentally for this," he said. "We had two-a-day workouts—we’d do hitting at the house, and then we would go hit over at the field and do our defensive and offensive drills. That’s part of preparing these kids for a long summer, and when you’ve got talent, you might have a long summer. And I think we’ve got some talent."

The next game for the Conejo Valley All-Stars will be July 17 in Goleta against Arroyo Grande Valley.