Orange County’s Team

Victory would have been sweeter, but Irvine’s Northwood All-Stars, who lost the Little League World Series to Taiwan last Saturday, still came home to a hero’s welcome in Orange County. And deservedly so.

By the time the series opened, Northwood had become Orange County’s team and, going into the championship game at Williamsport, Pa., where the eight top Little League teams had gathered to compete in the junior world series, Irvine had support of baseball fans from San Clemente to Stanton.

Even though the team from a village in Irvine couldn’t upset Taiwan--the perennial winner with a win-loss record of 40-2 in Little World Series play, which has has won 12 of the last 17 championships--the final result doesn’t diminish what Northwood accomplished this year.

Although Taiwan’s victory made Northwood the second-best Little League baseball team in the world, the Irvine team proved that it was the best in the United States. Its players can look back with pride to seven weeks of dominant all-star competition with exceptional pitching, solid hitting and strong defense. It was a worthy representative that brought recognition and honor to itself and to Orange County.

And the county’s baseball fans still have a crack at a World Series title this season--if the Angels can put together that same kind of pitching, hitting and defense down the stretch that Northwood did and finally bring the “big” league World Series to Anaheim Stadium.