District 13 Little League All-Star Tournament underway

NICE SLIDE-Tom McNutt of the Conejo West All-Star team reaches base safely after a textbook slide. Conejo West defeated Sunset of Oxnard 7-3 to advance in the District 13 tournament. The mile-long smile on 12year-old Tyler Chaney's face told the entire story.

Down by a run with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth inning Monday afternoon, Chaney ripped a fastball beyond the left-center field wall to give the Conejo West All-Stars a 6-3 lead over Sunset of Oxnard.

"That felt good," Chaney said. "It was the first home run I've ever hit in my life. It was real nice to hit that one out."

Behind Chaney's blast, a fifth inning home run by Tyler King and the powerful left arm of pitcher Tommy Lopez, the Conejo West All-Stars dug themselves out of a 3-0 first inning deficit to defeat Sunset 7-3 in the second round of the District 13 Little League All-Star Tournament at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks.

"I felt pretty bad after the first inning," said Lopez, who pitched a complete game six hitter, striking out 10 without allowing an earned run.

A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING-Conejo West's Tyler Chaney pumps his fists while rounding the bases after hitting a fourth inning grand slam Monday against Sunset of Oxnard. It was the first home run of Chaney's baseball career. The District 13 Little League All-Star Tournament is underway for the next two weeks at Colina Middle School in Thousand Oaks. "It took me until halfway through the first inning to find out what I was doing wrong," Lopez said. "So I just made the adjustments and I did well."

Conejo West manager Mike Sheehan said winning the first few games of a double elimination tournament is always an important step for a team's success.

"If you can win the first three games, not to say you're in the driver's seat, but you have a legitimate chance of winning the tournament," Sheehan said. "If you lose the first game in any type of tournament and get into the losers bracket, you better have a lot of pitching. Bottom line."

This year's District 13 tournament kicked off last Saturday with three first-round games. In the opening round, Northside of Oxnard defeated El Rio, Conejo West upended Eastside of Oxnard and T.O. National was victorious over Port Hueneme.

T.O. American was scheduled to play South Oxnard in Round 1 but the Oxnard team pulled out of the tournament, giving Thousand Oaks a firstround bye.

Simi Valley, Moorpark, Conejo East and Sunset all received byes in the opening round.

"The bracketing is put out by national Little League and then we do a coin toss to determine which teams are going to be seeded," Thousand Oaks Little League president John Short III said.

Each of the 11 teams in the tournament field has a dozen players between the ages of 11

and 12 on its roster. While the competition is ratcheted up a notch or two in an All-Star tournament compared to the regular season, the No. 1 priority remains having fun, Short said.

"It's a great thing for the kids and a great thing for the community," Short said. "Thousand Oaks Little League has a lot of pride hosting a tournament like this."

District 13 has traditionally been one of the most competitive tournaments in all of Southern California, if not the entire United States.

Moorpark defeated Conejo West in last year's District 13 title game.

In 2004, before the league was split into two divisions because of population rules, the Conejo Valley All-Stars advanced to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., and won the United States championship before falling to Curacao 5-2 in the world title game.

The district tournament will continue over the next two weeks.

Depending on how the brackets ultimately shake down, the championship game will take place Sat., July 15 at 10 a.m. or Mon., July 17 at 5:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to sectionals.

"It's a tough tournament to win," Sheehan said. "You've got all the local kids that go to school

together and now they're playing against each other-like T.O. vs. Conejo.

"I don't think it's the toughest tournament, but if you get out of the district, you've got a legitimate shot at going to State," he said. "Anything further than that, you'll need some luck."