Wilshire Warriors All-Stars reach Western U.S. Championship Game
By Jake Greene
THE TEAM from left to right, front row: Ezra Estrada, Cayden Romanick; second row: Nathan “Simba” Ranen, Jesse Holdridge, Cameron Greene, Nathan Kuroki-Sammons, Jacob Considine, Ervin Senga; third row: Nathan “Pops” Brill, Zollie “Boom” Smith, Nico Hashimoto, Connor Liao, Amar Prakash “OBP” Khalsa, Max Arad. Coaches: Stu Hashimoto, Louis Liao, Jake Greene.
The Wilshire Warriors 12U Pony Division All-Star Team, made up of neighborhood kids who play recreation baseball at Pan Pacific Park, concluded a magical summer by outlasting hundreds of teams from leagues up and down the West Coast to reach the Western Zone Championship Game in Moreno Valley.
The Warriors relied on hot bats (which means the whole team was hitting great) during the opening district tournament in West Hills, before showcasing shut-down defense en route to a dominant section tournament win in Santa Clarita, during which they allowed just one run over four games.
Pony, like Little League, divides rec leagues into localized regions for All-Star tournament play. The SoCal North Region in which the Warriors play is widely considered to be the toughest in the country, encompassing teams from central and west L.A., the San Fernando Valley, and Ventura County. It was no small feat, therefore, that the 12U Warriors found a way to not only advance out of the regional round in Camarillo, but also earn a top seed for the Super Region Tournament in Corona.
It was during the Super Regional Round, playing against the best teams from Southern California, that the Warriors played arguably their best team ball, culminating in a comeback, extra-inning win that allowed the boys to claim the final ticket to the Western Zone tournament. This features the top eight teams from Northern California, Southern California, Hawaii, and Washington.
The following weekend, after defeating the top two teams from Northern California along with the host team from Moreno Valley, the Warriors finally fell 9-7 in the Zone Championship game to a team from Placentia, ending their cinematic summer one win short of the International World Series.
The Warriors 12U team was led by volunteer parent-coaches and supported by committed family members, all of whom donated their time and talents throughout both rec and All-Stars. Kids and parents alike also fundraised throughout the year to send two 12U Warrior teams to Cooperstown, New York, for tournaments in early June. The All-Star coaches credit these magical trips for bringing the boys closer together and setting them on a path to success for the rest of the summer.
Jake Greene has been a Larchmont Village neighborhood dad for 15 years, during which time he’s volunteer-coached more than 20 basketball, baseball, and soccer teams at Pan Pacific Park.
Category: People
