Tournament champions

Michael Sciacca

It had been eight years since Huntington Valley Little League had

placed teams in three different division championship games in the

District 62 Little League Tournament of Champions.

But this year, the league has matched the feat. In fact, it had four

teams play in a title game including two in the Minor B Division finale.

When the final out was recorded Huntington Valley was the proud owner

of two more district banners.

“I’m really proud of all our our teams and excited about how far they

went in the tournament,” said Renee Aumiller, now in her fifth year as

president of Huntington Valley Little League.

At least one Huntington Valley team has played for a district crown in

four of her five years serving as league president.

One of those teams is the A’s, who gave Huntington Valley the

district’s 2002 Majors Division championship banner by defeating the

Seaview Cardinals, 4-1.

The other banner was secured by the Yankees, who edged their league

rival, the Dodgers, 3-2, in an all-Huntington Valley Minor B final.

The Dodgers won the league’s Minor B regular season title over the

Yankees, who finished in second place.

The Minor A crown went to the second of two Seaview Little League

teams to play in a title game. Seaview won the Minor A championship by

beating the Huntington Valley Yankees, 5-0, thus denying the league a

third championship.

The win in the final capped an outstanding tournament by Seaview,

which dominated its four opponents, outscoring them, 39-6.

In addition to the final, Seaview shut out Costa Mesa American in a

Minor A semifinal game.

Huntington Valley never trailed Seaview in a Majors Division

championship game that saw Seaview play without the services of one of

its best players, pitcher Carl Eberts, who was out with a broken hand.

“He’s such a great player,” Huntington Valley Manager John Parmenter

said. “Seaview is a very talented team but I know they missed not having

Carl.”

One reason Huntington Valley was able to win, 4-1, was due to the

pitching of Race Parmenter.

The 11-year-old right-hander allowed just one hit and it came midway

through the game.

He finished with 10 strikeouts, and the A’s needed every one of them

to compensate for an offense that didn’t have one of its better showings.

That had something to do with the performance of Seaview starter

Austin Rovazzini, who threw five innings.

Huntington Valley had twice loaded the bases with nobody out in the

game’s early stages, yet couldn’t bring home a run.

On another occasion, the A’s had runners stationed at second and third

with no outs, but stranded both runners.

“It was frustrating early in the game,” John Parmenter said. “We

really didn’t hit that well all game. We had just enough to get the win.”

One of the game’s first big hits was delivered by Danny Watt as his

two-run single in the third inning gave Huntington Valley a 2-0 lead.

Alex Barnes provided the A’s with another key hit as his fifth-inning

single scored two more runs.

Drew Duffy led Huntington Valley with two hits and Cody Moran singled.

“There definitely are 12 starters on this team, and each player

contributes in some way,” said Parmenter.

This was the third time in his managing career that John Parmenter had

taken a team to a district championship final.

His Minor A club won the district in 2000.

Parmenter will direct the Huntington Valley Majors Division All-Star

team in the District 62 All-Star Tournament of Champions on Saturday.

Huntington Valley is one of two hosts for the event and will host the

Area 1 competition.

The roster of Huntington Valley A’s Majors Division District 62

champions is comprised of Watt, Barnes, Duffy, Moran, McDougal, Boule,

Race Parmenter, Pablo McBeth, Chris Ottens, Trevor Springman, Robert

McKinley, Kyle Lueke, John Parmenter and coaches Gary Bowman and Steve

Lueke.