The West View _-loday’s Generation Creates ~ New Baseball Memories By Charlotte Fife Jepperson For the past five months, my whole life has been baseball. My entire family participates in baseball; my little brother and I both play on competitive teams, and my parents were both heavily involved in two different leagues. My mom, Anegela Bytheway, dad, Vice Cal was the Rose Park’s Minor Red Team celebrates their win in the State Tournament by running the bases. They were eliminated after their 3rd game in State, after losing by one point to Brighton. Photo by Mary Sue Floisand Murakami, Kirk Imamura, and Lucius in the State Tournament, when they lost by one point. The umpires complimented the team for their great playing. Coached by Harold Jeff Takenaka, and Kevin Itula, Mike Espinoza, and Todd Bytheway. Major Red Team: Took 1st place in the State Tournament under the coaching of Fred Kelly, Kip Watanuki, and Darrel Pierce. Congratulations, Major Red State Champs! Major Black Team: Eliminated in the District Qualifier, but did very well. Nino Duran hit a homerun. Coached by John Martinez, Joe Andersen, Bill Andersen, and Anthony Valdez. The Rose Park Cal Ripken Baseball The Major Red All-Star Team of Rose Park’s Cal Ripken Little League smile for their team photo. This team took State in their division, representing Rose Park and the West Side proudly. League would like to thank Harold Mascarenas for his service as league President these past few years. He has a love for the game and an effective coaching style that brings out the best in kids. Treasurer Todd Bytheway, was the President of the Rose Park Ripken Little League. He also an assistant coach for CPC team and the Minor Black All-Star team, both of which my little brother Braxton played on. During the regular season, I played shortstop for the Bullfrogs, but I also played wherever the coach needed me. Most of the year we had to play with only eight players, which meant that we had to take an most of our games anyway. I think the best part about baseball, aside from meeting new people, is the competition. I really liked playing on the All-star team this year. We didn’t make it very far, but it was still a ton of fun. In our last game of the District Qualifier Tournament, we lost the game because of a bad call. This is what happened: The batter hit a little blooper to our right fielder, Ben Ogden, who ran up and caught the short fly ball. While this was happening, the runner on third base tagged up and started running home. Ogden threw the ball to home; the 13-year-olds Team: Eliminated in the last game of the District Qualifier. Henry Vadnais batted 1000 (a perfect batting average) throughout the tournament.. Coached by Craig Graves, Ben Cover, Lucas Murakami, and Jose Briseino. | 14-year-olds Team: Took Ist place in the District Qualifier and were eliminated in the State Tournament. Coached by Johnny Arellano, Mike Samora, and Dick Turner. 15-year-olds Team: Took 2nd place The 13-year-olds All-Star Team of the West Side Babe Ruth League pose like pros for their team photo. | catcher Andrew Samora caught the and tagged the runner, but umpire wasn’t watching called him safe. Our whole entire team furious, but not as mad West Side Babe Ruth Baseball All-Stars: in the District Qualifier and ended up 4th place in State. Coached by Mike Hanna, Sean Raymond, and Major Raymond. - the automatic out, but we still won Sundwall. Minor Black Team: Eliminated in the District Qualifier, but did well. They won their first game by a long shot against Kearns. Coached by Josh Hanks, Tau was and one of three scorekeepers for the West Side Babe Ruth League, and she did a lot of the fundraising for the league. My Valencia. Minor Red Team: Took 2nd place in the District Qualifier, eliminated after Mascarenas, hrough the Eyes By Austin Bytheway Cal Ripken Rose Park Little League All-Stars the 3rd game Baseball Of a Es Year-Old Nowadays, west side kids are still out playing one of America’s favorite sports - baseball. This year, about 175 kids played in Rose Park’s Cal Ripken Little League. Over in Poplar Grove, the West Side Babe Ruth League involved about 65 kids from both the West Side and the Avenues areas, ages 13 through 15. These competitive leagues are the highlight of the spring and summer for many west side families. The season came to an end in July with the All-Star district and state tournaments. 75 west side kids were picked to represent Rose Park as All-Stars and about 43 kids were chosen to represent West Side Babe Ruth. Here are the results of those All-Star games: Mini Red Team: Took Ist place in the District Qualifier, eliminated in the State Tournament, when they lost by only one point after coming from way behind. Austin Floisand hit a homerun, starting the rally in that last game. Coached by Derrick Davis, Eddie Butcher and Steve Butcher. Mini Black Team: Eliminated in the District Qualifier, coached by Jake Page 7 ball the and was as our coach Craig Graves. He was so mad; he almost punched the umpire. The assistant coaches pulled Graves away before anything bad happened, and the umpire threw him out of the game. That was the only time he got kicked out of a game this year. I am very lucky to have a coach like Craig. I have a lot of respect for him as a person, and he’s taught me a lot about the game. He is so popular that kids who don’t even play on his team call him “coach.” He is the best coach I’ve ever had. I think he should be a Major League Baseball coach; he’s that good.