Little leaguers to get big welcome home

While cheering for the Sweetwater Valley Little League All-Star team is over in South Williamsport, Pa., it continues in the South Bay.

A welcome-home party for the 12- and 13-year-old Western regional champs will be held at the Sweetwater Valley Little League field at 3321 Conduit Road, in Bonita at 5 p.m. Tuesday,

Sweetwater Valley lost 9-7 Thursday night in extra innings to Pearland Texas in what was one of the most exciting and well-played games in the Series.

Eduardo Reyes, principal for Bonita Vista Middle where most of the boys attend, said even though they fell short of the U.S. and international titles, it still feels like a win for the South Bay.

“We’re very proud of every one of those kids,” Reyes said. “They’ve done an incredible job of not only playing baseball, but being role models.”

Bonita local Miguel Ruiz offered his restaurant La Finca D’Adobe, as the hub for local viewing parties once they advanced to the World Series.

“To see everybody come together to watch them and to see people donate to help out the families was exciting and emotional,” Ruiz said.

On Thursday, he said the crowd nearly reached his 350 occupancy between the bar, dining area and outside patio.

Ruiz donated 20 percent of each person’s bill on game days to the team. A check, which he expects to be in the thousands, will be presented to the league at the homecoming celebration.

Kelly Lannom, the team’s spokeswoman and manager Ward Lannom’s wife, said friends, family and fans from New York, Idaho, Arizona and Tijuana traveled to South Williamsport to cheer the team on.

Local fundraisers and donations allowed 14 of the team’s families to watch in person.

Sweetwater Valley became one of 16 teams from an initial 7,000 all-star teams that made it to the World Series.

The tournament began in San Bernardino in July. The boys advanced to the Little League World Series mid-August.

Highlights include winning their first 17 games. In all, Sweetwater Valley won 19 of its 21 games and hit 86 home runs.

The boys will stay for the remainder of the Series. The championship game is set for Sunday.

Sweetwater Valley at the Little League World Series

• Sweetwater Valley wrote a great chapter
• Sweetwater Valley exits LLWS in extra innings
• Sweetwater Valley must get through Texas
• Parents happily pay price for World Series ride

Manager Ward said the boys’ success made them into celebrities.

“They have the rock star status everywhere they go,” Ward said, adding much of it came from “Little League groupies.” “As soon as we got here ... 12, 13, 14- and 15-year-old girls were everywhere we went. ... (The girls) were throwing foam baseballs at them with their numbers on them.”

Although he said their fame would fade, the boys should still feel proud of their game overall.

“What I told them last night (Thursday) after we lost, is it’s nothing to hang their head about,” he said. “At the end of the day it was only going to be one team that didn’t cry. This is an amazing chapter in their life and there is a lot of baseball to come.”

Sweetwater Valley Little League was the third team from the South Bay since 2009 to make it to the Little League World Series.

Chula Vista’s Park View Little League, also known as The Blue Bombers, won the World Series Championship in 2009, and Eastlake Little League won the U.S. Championship in 2013.