The boys from Park View Little League were eliminated from Little League World Series title contention Tuesday night after losing to a team from Tennessee 4-2.
Despite the loss, PVLL fans at the just opened Salucita Bar and Grill on Bonita Road remained proud of the boys from Chula Vista.
“They are our champions no matter what,” said Angel Soto of Chula Vista. Soto’s son Anthony is a coach on the PVLL team and catcher Anthony Soto Jr. is his grandson.
Soto said Park View lost because they were thrown off their game by a great Tennessee team.
“Somehow they weren’t hitting like they usually do,” he said.
Arturo Maldonado co-owns Salucita’s Bar and Grill. He is also the president of Sweetwater Valley Little League and was the first base coach of the Sweetwater Valley team that made it to Williamsport, Pa., last year.
He said he held a viewing party for PVLL to pay back the love and support the Sweetwater Valley team had last year from the community when they fell just short of reaching the final round.
“Me as a business owner here, I want to give back [the support] what a lot of people gave us last year and also gave my family the opportunity to be up there,” he said. “So I am returning the favor.”
Maldonado said 10 percent of all sales on Tuesday would go back to Park View Little League.
The mood at Salucita’s was almost identical to last Friday’s viewing party at Oggi’s Pizza and Brewing. Park View Little League also lost that day by a 5-1 score against a team from Iowa which represented the Midwest region.
Raul Perez is the uncle to shortstop Ali Camarillo and the cousin of manager Jorge Camarillo, so to see members of his family competing in the international tournament is unbelievable, he said.
“It’s surreal. It’s awesome,” Perez said. “To actually have a family there just makes it all surreal.”
Perez said he spoke to both his cousin and nephew before they left for Williamsport and he said they were relaxed leaving a dream.
Perez said win or lose he remains proud of the boys. Perez said South County Little League teams give their region something their professional teams do not, a consistent winning product.
“The San Diego Padres do not give us anything, no championship aspirations,” he said.
Park View Little League, is the fourth team from South County to make it to Williamsport. In 2009, Park View won the whole tournament; Eastlake made it to the final in 2013, losing to eventual champions Japan; and Sweetwater Valley Little League made it to the Little League World Series in 2015 but fell short of reaching the finals.
