The Tri-Valley Babe Ruth 13-year olds are still reeling from the All-star Baseball team’s incredible winning streak through the Northern California Pacific Southwest Regionals, and the World Series Championship. Under the guidance of Manager Sean Venezia and Coaches Rick Fryer and Todd Moore, the team competed in the Babe Ruth World Series in Washington.
Adhering to the Babe Ruth League prerequisite since 1961, 120 boys from nine regional teams spent the week with local host families. As guests in local homes, it added a new dimension for the boys; banqueting at the Suquamish Indian Reservation, a Naval Museum visit and a Mariners game. Some went fishing in saltwater Puget Sound, rich with giant crab and salmon.
The first night kick-off of the Babe Ruth World Series started with a parade in host city Poulsbo. The grand marshal was Jim Lefebvre, former Dodgers 1965 National League Rookie of the Year, and Seattle Mariner and Chicago Cubs manager.
The champion baseball teams were presented at the World Series opening ceremonies, attended by dignitaries and U.S. Navy personnel. Planes flew overhead, and skydivers with red-white-and-blue parachutes delivered the game balls to the Gene Lobe Field. It was an exciting start to a week of the best of the best youth baseball.
The Babe Ruth League founded in 1951 in Trenton, New Jersey, was sanctioned by Claire Ruth herself. “Babe Ruth loved children and baseball; my late husband could receive no greater tribute than lend his name to a youth baseball program…”
Nationally, the league has about a million players on over 56,000 teams. Among the Babe Ruth League’s star alumni are; Nolan Ryan, Mike Trout and Alamo’s Joe Morgan. Tri-Valley Babe Ruth alumni include SF Giant’s shortstop Brandon Crawford, and two 2012 First Round Major League draft picks; Mark Appel and Stephen Piscotty.
The Tri-Valley Babe Ruth League was formed in 1990 with Dublin’s Camp Parks as home field, and has earned national recognition with ten World Series appearances and five World Series Championships.
This year the TVBR 13YO lineup boasts some of the league’s best players from Pleasanton National and Foothill, San Ramon, Tassajara, and includes several Danville Little League All-Stars who clinched the Nor-Cal Championships two years in a row. The 2012 World Series players are Dante Albanese, Ryan Bowman, James Cowick, Jared Dawson, Clark Eder, Jack Fryer, Darroch Koel, Jack Maloon, Max Moore, Jack Morgan, Matt Neswick, Josh Ott, Saiki Roy, Nicholas Venezia and Nathan White.
The team’s streak took them all the way to the Washington World Series Semi-Finals, before being knocked out by Greenville, North Carolina, who in turn yielded the championship to the Bryant, Arkansas team. The Tri-Valley All-stars are champs; they are our Boys of Summer.
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