July 11, 2006

Thousand Oaks Big Leaguers earn Section 2 championship
By Rich Romine
Ventura County Star

The road to the Big League World Series for 16-17-18-year-old Little League players starts in Thousand Oaks and the destination is Easley, S.C., July 29-Aug. 5.

Thousand Oaks, a World Series finalist last year and in 2003, is still two tournament championships away from what Thousand Oaks Little League president John Short III calls "The Big Show."

The chant from Thousand Oaks is "Beat "S.C.""

On Saturday, the Thousand Oaks All-Stars won the Section 1-2 Tournament championship with an 11-7 win over Foothill/Tujunga at Conejo Creek Park South.

Stephen Notaro of Thousand Oaks hit a three-run homer in the first inning. Garrett Rau had a triple and two singles. Kellen Fink, the winning pitcher, had a single and scored two runs. Cole Kahle had a walk, single and scored a run. Cody Fierro had a single, double, walk and sacrifice fly with three RBIs and three runs scored. Ben Yarin had a hit and Cody Smith added a double. Jason Barmasse scored two runs.

Foothill scored five runs in the top of the fourth inning to take a 5-4 lead. Thousand Oaks responded with four runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull away for an 8-5 advantage.

Notaro, a third-year Big League All-Star, said his homer was an important shot. "We put up a good score in the first inning. We put pressure on and they were on their heels."

Notaro and his teammates head to Greater Bellflower Little League to play for the Southern California Tournament championship starting Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and running through July 17. The tournament champion advances to the West Region Tournament on July 20-25 at Port Orchard, Wash. The winner of the West advances to Easley, S.C., to face the three-time District I champion and host South Carolina All-Stars,

"This is the most fun I've ever had," said Notaro. "All the guys are real fun to be with."

Notaro said Thousand Oaks has the pitching and hitting to compete for a World Series berth. The toughest tournament is Southern California with Anaheim, Long Beach and Riverside, according to Notaro.

The Thousand Oaks All-Stars have been together since June. Coach Ed Kitchen said his team has a strong pitching staff with Smith, Fink, Tyler Peddicord and Fierro.

Kitchen was a coach on the 1998 Conejo Valley Big League World Series championship team, managed by Steve Henson.

Kitchen has coached a Little League all-star team to a district or section championship every year since 1993.