For only the second time in Westchester Babe Ruth’s 56-year history, Westchester has qualified a team for the Babe Ruth World Series.
[img]1502|left|||no_popup[/img]
Photographer Mike Kanfer caught Westchester players last Saturday at the pinnacle – so far – of their season.
The Westchester Babe Ruth 14U team (players league age 14 or younger) won the local district championship by defeating El Segundo (twice) and South Torrance. Torrance also participated in the local district championship.
The team won the Southern California title by beating La Crescenta (twice) and Heartwell. Simi Valley also qualified to play in the Southern California Championship.
Last week, Westchester won the Pacific Southwest Region in Surprise, AZ, by defeating Hawaii in a doubleheader on Saturday. Earlier in the week, Westchester beat Northern California Tri Valley (the defending World Series champions), Arizona, lost to Hawaii, and then beat Utah, setting up the doubleheader against Hawaii.
The eight-team Pacific Southwest Regional championship included State winners Hawaii, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Southern California, Central California, Northern California and the Arizona host Surprise.
The World Series teams are broken into two pools of five teams each. Westchester is in the American Division, along with the winners of the New England Regional, the Southeast Regional, the Pacific Northwest Regional, and state host, Utah. The National Division includes the winners of the Mid-Atlantic Regional, Ohio Valley Regional, Midwest Plains Regional, Southwest Regional, and the Utah host Murray.
The Westchester team leaves for Murray, Utah on Thursday, Aug. 16, for the Babe Ruth World Series. Their first game will be on Saturday of next week, Aug. 18, against the New England Regional Champion (Southbury, Connecticut).
Their next game is the next day, against Southeast U.S. (facing a team from Florida, North Carolina, or Alabama).
On Monday, Aug.20, the Westchester 14U team will play a Washington state team, Twin Cities, the Pacific Northwest Regional Champion. The boys finish pool play with a game on Wednesday, Aug. 22, against Vernal, the Utah champion.
The top three teams from each pool enter into a single elimination tournament, with games on Thursday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 24. The championship game is the following day.
The 15 players on the Westchester 14U World Series-bound team are:
Avery Allen, Christian Amador, Jordan Caines, Reggie Castro, Anthony Chavez, Grant Craddolph, Angel De La Torre, Lawrence (LJ) Gilliam, AJ Inatsugu , Carlos Jacobo, Matthew Kanfer, Matthew Kaplan, Ethan Lazar, Mario Morales and Jason Zeidman.
The team is managed by John Lopatto, coached by Alex Galaviz and Barry Craddolph.
The official Babe Ruth World Series website: http://www.baberuthleague.org/world-series/2012Brackets/2012-14YO-WS-Bracket.pdf
Mr. Zeidman may be contacted at scott.zeidman@laslots.com
