The 2015 Sweetwater Valley Little League team captured the hearts of thousands of South County baseball fans during its celebrated run to the Little League World Series.
The Sweetwater Sluggers, as they became known, captured third place in the United States division but otherwise played like champions throughout the All-Star season.
So where are some of those players now?
Jake Baptista, Antonio Andrade and Nick Maldonado are competing this summer for the U.S. San Diego World Baseball team in international tournaments in Hawaii and Alameda.
The San Diego team won the Hawaii World Series July 16-24 in Honolulu with a 6-0 record; the team is competing through Sunday in the 36th World Boys International Baseball Tournament in the Bay Area.
Teams in the latter tournament hail from Italy, Japan, Korea, Australia, Germany, Mexico, Hawaii, San Diego, Fresno and Alameda.
Isaac Artalejo, another player from the 2015 West LLWS team, is in Alameda representing Mexico. Two other former Sweetwater Sluggers, Levi Mendez and Ari Armas, played with the Diamonds from El Cajon’s Emerald Pony League and were hoping to capture another Pony World Series championship.
The Emerald Diamonds won last year’s Pony-13 World Series title. Another member of that Emerald team was former Sweetwater Valley Little League teammate Nate Nankil.
The Diamonds advanced as far as this year’s Pony-14 Super Region after winning the San Diego region title.
Another high achieving bunch that made memories last summer were members of Chula Vista South Pony’s Colt World Series team.
The team did not make a return trip to Lafayette, Ind., this season but did compete together in independent tournaments.
The group, which competed under the umbrella of the San Diego Stars 15U summer squad, included the bulk of last year’s CVS Colt World Series team.
The Stars 2017 summer roster featured the following players: outfielder/pitcher Kyle Casper, shortstop/outfielder Marcelo Mayer, pitcher/third baseman Keoni Cavaco, pitcher/outfielder Ben Hart, catcher/outfielder Ethan Dunnam, shortstop/pitcher Emilio Luna, second baseman/shortstop Heath Miller, third baseman/first baseman Eric Nakano, Nankil (outfield/third base), outfielder/utility Ryan Perot, first baseman/pitcher Raden Perry, pitcher/outfielder D.J. Ralph, pitcher/outfielder Dante Schmid and catcher/outfielder Garrett Taylor.
The Stars began their summer schedule by winning the Prospect Wire tournament June 16-19 at Mt. Miguel High School. Teams from throughout California participated. The Stars, led by tourney MVP Casper, finished at the top of the list.
The Stars finished 4-0 with 52 runs scored against just three runs allowed. The team finished with a composite .433 hitting average.
The Stars defeated the NorCal Baseball 2020s, 7-1, in the championship game. Schmid had two hits and drove in three runs. Luna and Cavaco, who each slammed doubles in the game, also picked up one RBI each.
Hart pitched six-and-one-third innings, allowing two hits and recording three strikeouts. Luna pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing one hit and striking out two batters.
Two weeks later the Stars traveled to the USA Baseball National Team Championships June 23-30 in Glendale, Ariz. The team placed sixth out of 90 teams.
The Stars played seven games, winning five.
Schmid, Taylor and Perot each had two hits while Taylor collected three RBI in a 10-1 win over the CBA Bruins to open the tournament.
Schmid pitched five innings and struck out four batters in a 4-1 win over GBG Arizona as the Stars won their second game.
The Stars won their first three games in the Arizona event, defeating the So Cal Birds Black, 5-3, on the strength of two hits by Cavaco and six innings on the hill by Ralph.
Two weeks later after that, the Stars traveled to Cartersville, Ga., to participate in the Perfect Game Wood Bat Nationals. The local team finished an impressive 10th out of 304 teams.
The Stars won Pool H with a 6-0-1 record and .929 winning percentage.
The Stars advanced to the round of 32 with a 3-2 win over the East Cobb Astros and finished in the round of 16 with a 4-3 loss to the Evoshield Bombers from Texas.
The Stars finished 7-1-1 overall in the mega event.
To top off the summer, two players — Luna and Cavaco — will be traveling to Cary, N.C. for the third and final round of tryouts in the National Team Identification Series to qualify for the USA national baseball team.
A fund-raiser will take place Sunday, Aug. 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Chula Vista South Pony League field, 1500 Max Ave.
The event will feature live batting practice, music, food, T-shirt sales and raffles.
“The boys have been working hard all year to get to this point and are focused on reaching their goals,” coach Valentin Luna said.
Tournament Scoreboard
World Boys Baseball International Tournament
Aug. 6-12 in Alameda
Monday, Aug. 7
Fresno Blue 16, Italy 0
Japan 7, San Diego 1
Australia 6, Fresno Blue 10, Australia 6
Alameda 6, Mexico Rojo 3
Korea 5, Germany 2
Tuesday, August 8
Mexico Rojo 1 Australia 9
Fresno Red 0 Korea 2
Germany 4 San Diego 5
Italy 2 Alameda 5
Fresno Red 2 Japan 5
Thursday, August 10
Fresno Red 6 San Diego 9
Fresno Blue 0 Mexico Rojo 9
San Diego 5 Korea 6
Japan 17 Germany 0
Australia 3 Alameda 7
Friday, August 11
Germany 8 Fresno Red 9
Italy 2 Australia 12
Korea 1 Japan 11
Alameda 7 Fresno Blue 14
Mexico Rojo 10 Italy 4
Saturday, August 12
FRIENDSHIP GAMES:
Germany defeated Italy
Fresno Red defeated Mexico Rojo
San Diego defeated Australia
SEMIFINALS:
Alameda 5 Japan 7
Korea 8 Fresno Blue 5
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:
Japan 2 Korea 1
