Diamond grade

Pockets of color could be seen brightening up an otherwise gray

and overcast morning at a silent Huntington Valley Little League on

Friday.

Clusters of red, green, black and blue formed along the outside of

the first base dugout at the Majors Division field.

Soon, these colors would meld together to form one impressive,

vibrant color.

Eighteen players between the ages of 10 and 12 had gathered in

full uniform at the same Huntington Valley Little League fields that,

just two days earlier, had played host to big crowds who had come out

to watch the District 62 All-Star Tournament finals.

These youngsters had come together for one purpose: to comprise

the 2002 Independent Little League Dream Team.

Each player had turned in an impressive season in his respective

league, and each had the “right stuff” to make the cut.

“There’s a lot of talent out there,” said one parent, as she

watched the players assemble in bleachers. “I’ve seen a lot of these

kids play in the district tournaments, and they all really did a

great job.”

In all, 19 players comprise the 2002 Dream Team. They either

dominated the mound, owned the batter’s box or terrorized the playing

field. Their batting averages were impressive too, as was our average

for getting 18 of the 19 players together at one time, for a photo

shoot, two days after the completion of the season.

Summer vacation would have to wait at least one more day. One

player, in fact, was on vacation, but cut it short in order to make

the Dream Team photo shoot.

The breakdown of the Dream Team has District 62 champion

Huntington Valley represented by Mike Bogard, Paul McBeth, Race

Parmenter, Shawn Stiffler and J.T. Thompson; Kyle Buchan, Ryan

Donohue, Robert Herron, Nathan Roe and Cody Stroud wear Robinwood’s

colors; Aaron Amaral, Carl Eberts, Kyle Higashioka and Anthony

Paterno carry the Seaview banner; and Scott Baxter, Randy Guite,

James Miller, Mickey Moses and Garrett Shinn represent Ocean View.

As is the case each summer, it is difficult narrowing the team to

a select few as talent abounds in the four local little leagues.

“I’ve seen a lot of these kids in action these past few weeks in

district play and I was really impressed with how well they played,”

said John Parmenter, who managed Huntington Valley to both a District

62 Tournament of Champions title and a district All-Star championship

within the course of three weeks.

For Kyle Buchan of Robinwood, his being named to the Dream Team

capped what he called a “great year.”

In addition to his making the All-Star team and the Dream Team,

Buchan excelled in the classroom, was named his school’s student of

the year and was honored with the Presidential Gold Seal for academic

achievement.

“It’s been a really fun year and it was my best year of Little

League yet,” said the 12-year-old, a right-handed pitcher and third

baseman.

As the photo shoot wrapped and members of the Dream Team began to

go their separate ways -- gloves and bats in hand, as though it were

just another day at the ballpark -- the sun began to pierce the

marine layer above. The light it cast seemed to highlight the

scattered colors below, much the same way the Independent had done by

bringing them together to form the 2002 Dream Team.

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 965-7171 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.