WESTHILLS ALL-STARS

WEST HILLS ALL-STARS



2011 Bronco 12 A All Stars


 PONY WORLD SERIES PARTICIPANT- MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA


Congratulations to the Bronco 12 A All Star team.  After winning, Sections, Regions, Super Regions, and then Zone, they made it to the Semi-Final game of the World Series!


What an amazing run for this team. Everyone on this team has contributed so much during these games. When you have a lot of great pitching, twelve good hitters and a great defense it makes my job as well as the coaches jobs that much easier. This team has represented West Hills Baseball and the state of California at its best and I’m very proud to have managed this great team. We played in 8 tournaments. We started in Agoura and ended VP in the World Series in Monterey. We won Championships in 7 tournaments and came in third in World Series. We had 35 games in 2 months and we had 33 wins and only 2 losses. We had 20 mercy games and scored 388 runs and gave up 87 runs in 8 tournaments. What a great run for this team and West Hills Baseball. I would like to thank my coaches Bo Weinburg and Brian West. Bo was the motivator who kept the kids playing hard and playing together as a team. Thanks Bo. And Brian gave his all coaching first base and kept everyone on top of their game. Thanks Brian. I would also like to thank Pat Schlopy for helping with the practices and the teen mom Lena Reed for keeping us up to date every day. Thank you. I’d like to thank the scorekeepers Johnny Greenfield and Steve Polon. Also thanks to Dusty Weinburg for working with the pitchers. Thank you to all the parents and family of the team for being there throughout this great run we had. Again thank you West Hills Baseball.


 Kelly Hankins


 


2011 Bronco 11 All Stars



 





2011 Bronco 11 All Stars 


We had very promising All Star Team this year to represent Bronco 11. There were several first time traveling All Stars which adds a special emphasis on the team with them as a part. Of course, there was a bunch of returning All Stars as well. All of the players earned their way onto the team by their efforts in regular season. They stood out to the managers, and like all divisions, were voted and hand-picked to be a 2011 All Stars.


I am calling this year the year of repetition and craziness. Not because of us practicing the same things over and over. Not because of making the same mistakes over and over. It is the year of repetition because we couldn’t seem to play any other team but Simi Valley. We played them in the Championship in Newbury Park. We played in the Simi Youth tournament. We get the call that we will start sanction play in lovely Bakersfield and low and behold we end up playing Simi 3 times in section play. We beat them in double elimination to force a second championship game. I cannot begin to explain the craziness that was Bakersfield. All I can say is that I was completely proud of our team in how they handled all that craziness from players to the parents. We ended up losing a nail biter in the Championship.


We moved on to Camarillo and had a great tournament. We ended up with one loss which forced us into a tie. It literally game down to one game between two other teams to determine our fate to be the number 1 seed or to be out of the tournament. Again craziness followed us. After watching a back and forth game, the team we needed to win lost and we were not fortunate enough to move on.


This team got better and better each and every game. One of the best highlights was beating Hart, 2010 World Series Champions, to move on to the Championship in Newbury Park. Another was beating Simi to force the a second championship game and the team was literally one hit from winning Sections vs. Simi and moving on to Regionals as the number one seed.


I want to thank Bill and Jon for their help as coaches, Ana for paperwork and score keeping, many dads who helped pitch and everyone else for being together and being a team rooting for our players to succeed. Thank you to J.W., Billy, Will, Ben, Jake, Lucy, Quinn, Elan, Brandon, Cameron, Blake, Drew and Matt for all your efforts, and trust in us as coaches!


 2011 Pinto All Stars


 The West Hills Pinto All Stars was a wonderful experience, and an honor to manage.  This team worked hard every day right from the start, staying in the cages and taking extra infield and outfield drills until we were out of daylight. 


 We had a week of practices under our belt heading into the Las Virgenes Tournament at Agoura.  The kids played awesome, "well beyond their years" was the sentiment echoed the whole weekend as we advanced to the Championship game against a sensational Newbury Park team on Monday night.  The kids played their hearts out in what I can honestly say was the best youth baseball game I have ever witnessed or been part of.  Nine innings of one outstanding play after the next, incredible pitching, clutch hitting and some defensive web gems that would make any "Sportscenter" top ten.  We found ourselves coming up short, as Newbury hit a sacrifice fly to score a run in the bottom of the ninth and won 3-2. 


 The following weekend at Toluca Lake was another successful run in district play.  Our solid defense and strong pitching led us to yet another Championship game against the host team from Toluca Lake.  Toluca came out an exploded on offense to set the tone, and we did not counter offensively, as we ended up losing to a team that was on fire all weekend. 


 We then entered into section play at Hart as a number (2) seed feeling pretty good about ourselves only to find out that we drew the home team and number (1) seed Hart in our first game.  The game was played on a Thursday night on their home field in front of a huge Hart fan base.  We took an early lead 2-0 heading into the bottom of the third, when our starting second baseman collided with a Hart runner, they scored a run that inning and took the momentum away.  Hart put pressure on the rest of the way and ultimately went ahead to stay in the fourth inning and secured the win.  That talented Hart team went on the win the Pinto 8U World Series.   The next (2) games we split, as we won our last game and ended this wonderful experience on a winning note.  


 Reflecting back what resonates the most was seeing each kid rise to the occasion, and perform beyond my expectations, mostly because of their desire to play the game and their commitment to each other.  A special thanks to my coaches: Dusty Rhoades, for your support and leadership, and Stephen Singer for your contribution and selfless commitment and baseball knowledge.  The best part of this experience for me was getting to know the boys and families throughout this incredible journey, that I otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do.  I would like to thank West Hills Baseball, and to each and every family for your support and the opportunity to manage a great group of kids 


 Brian Barry


 



2011 Mustang B All Stars - East Division


 The West Hills Mustang B All-Stars from the East Division consisted of
players from the Yankees, White Sox, and Red Sox.  The players on the
All-Stars are Alec Schiavo, Jack Hanley, Juan Arturo Maldonado, Matthew
Svolos, Jordon Heller, Brett Prendergast, Justin Spitz, Justin Pfahler,
Ryan Gertz, Max Lyons, Jonah Grossman, Ryan Pfahler, and Jadyn Myatt. 
Although coming from three teams, the players bonded immediately, and
they got better as a team with each game.  The players called
themselves, “The Beast from the East," and they played great baseball.
The East Division All-Stars defeated the West Division All-Stars two
games to one, in a best of three series.  Both the players and parents
alike had a lot of fun.  Congratulations to the East Division
All-Stars!



Stephen Pfahler


2011 Mustang B All Stars - West Division


Congratulations to all the Mustang Intra-League all stars! I had the honor of coaching 12 talented and all-around great kids on our West team, four each from the Rangers, A's and Angels. We had a memorable weekend playing in our three-game series against the East, and the coaches, players and I all enjoyed the experience.  Our games were like a celebration: relaxing and fun, and a welcome change-of-pace from the week of playoffs that we had all just been through. We had the opportunity to showcase a very good group of pitchers, and all the kids had the opportunity to show just why he (or she!) had been chosen to play in this special series. The West coaching staff was terrific, and our families were supportive and encouraging to all the kids involved. Thanks to all the players for working hard, trying their best, and being great teammates.


 


Coach Dave Berens


 


2011 PONY-13 ALL STARS




2011 PONY-13 ALL STARS


It was a pleasure to coach this group of talented All Star players and see them bond and play together as a team throughout the season.

We started the All Star season by playing two pre-sanctioned tournaments.  In the first pre-sanctioned tournament at Simi Valley, we played well and made it to the championship game.  We then played the second pre-sanctioned tournament at Newbury Park and won the championship which led us into the first Pony Section tournament with confidence and understanding our team's potential.  In the extremely hot weather, our kids played their best with the "never give up" attitude by beating Simi in the extra 9th inning and mercied the Hart team right after in the Section tournament at Hart.  As we advanced to the Region tournament at Camarillo, the kids played well but we failed to advance to the Super-Region. 

Although our season ended sooner than we hoped,  it was very enjoyable to watch how the players bonded together and started playing as a team.  More importantly, I believe every player walked away from this All Star season with some very positive experiences, especially for those who had their last All Star season at Westhills before they move onto high school.

I would like to thank my coaches, Pat Schlopy and Jimmy Terrazas, and team mom, Christina Brahms.  Also thanks to all the parents, siblings, relatives, and friends who came to watch and supported the All Star team.

Lastly, congratulations to our Pony 13A All Star players and best wishes on their season.

Kenny Yang
Manager


2011 MUSTANG A ALL STARS


It was an honor and pleasure to be part of this talented group of players, their families, and the coaches this past summer.  We started our journey in a pre-sanctioned tournament in Agoura where we proved we were a force to be reckoned with.  We won our first two games (including our ultimate summer arch nemesis, Toluca Lake) and then lost a heart-breaking semi-final game against Simi 11-10 after having them down 10-4.  We knew we had real potential after our opening weekend.


 


Our second tournament was in front of our home crowd and we stumbled a bit by losing to Toluca Lake in the Semi Final game in the 6th inning after leading throughout the game.  Although most of the other teams started sanctioned ball the following week, we played in a non-sanctioned tournament in Ventura because of a bye we received for hosting the Regional Tournament.  We came out strong that weekend with multiple home runs, great pitching performances, and an overall great team effort.  The result was a championship and the team starting to believe they could win.....as a TEAM. 


 


The next week we were finally able to play in a real, sanctioned tournament.....and it was at home.  We breezed past our first 3 competitors outscoring them 36-5 and found ourselves in the championship game against.....Toluca Lake.  We should’ve walked away with the banner, but Toluca stole it from us with a rally in the 6th inning of the championship game.  In many ways, it was the best thing that happened to us.  We didn’t get down, we knew we advanced....that was the goal.


 


We went on to the Regional tournament at Newbury Park.  We went there with a swagger knowing 3 teams advanced, but the competition was fierce....Simi, Hart....AND Toluca Lake.  Unfortunately, we simply came out flat in the tournament losing to Simi in a close game and them we lost a game that we fully expected to win against Camarillo the following morning.  With an 0-2 record we honestly thought our summer was over.  Due to the unique tie-breaker rules we faced a must-win situation against the host team, Newbury Park, which actually gave us a chance to survive.  Not only did we have to win, but we had to win by 4 runs or more in order to advance to the semi-final round.  We did just that....we won by 4 runs.  In the semi-final game we lost to Hart (the eventual World Series champs) which pinned us against Toluca Lake in the Consolation Game for the right to advance with Hart and Simi to the Super Region in San Marcos.  The game was epic.  We took an early lead....they fought back....we regained the lead with a 2-run home run in the 5th inning and solidified the victory with amazing pitching and supreme team defense.  Poetic justice was served after battling with Toluca Lake all summer long. 


 


We went down to San Marcos riding high on an emotional wave understanding how fortunate we were to have the ability to share this experience together.  The boys bonded together with pizza parties, swim parties, the highs and lows of crazy victories and unique losses, and advancing to a tournament where they knew the competition was elite.  The coaches...my friends....Gary Golnick and Randy McPherson and I kept reminding ourselves that, “It’s all about the journey.”  We knew the kids would remember staying in a hotel and swimming with one another more than they would any one inning or any one particular game.  We kept the energy level around the boys high, but made sure “the experience” was first and baseball was second.  We lost our opening game to Tecolote  (San Diego’s top team) which put us in the loser’s bracket.  We started to second guess our strategy, but never deviated from our mission statement for our boys.  Rather than folding, the boys rallied and came together as a team.  They sent 4 straight teams home including a dramatic revenge victory against Tecolote.  We eventually lost in an extra inning battle against Chino which would’ve put us in the semi-final game and an opportunity to move on to Zone, but it wasn’t meant to be. 


 


The journey was amazing.....the memories unforgettable.  What made us most proud as coaches and parents were the constant compliments that our boys received from the opposition, the umpires, and the parents of the competition.  We were known in San Marcos as the team that played the game “the right way”.  We played with respect, heart, and dignity.  Win or lose our boys, a product of our Westhills community, were known for their sportsmanship as much as they were known for knocking out 4 of the top teams in Super Region and ultimately finishing the post-season in the top 4 in all of Southern California.  We could not have been more proud of our boys.


 


It was an amazing summer for all of us.  A very special thank you to Gary and Randy for joining me and allowing me to share these memories with them.  All of the families joined in and helped...but special acknowledgement must go out to Will Snyder, Mike “Senior” Brumleve, Sam Pompeo, Cindy Collins, and Michelle Sjolander for going above and beyond throughout the summer.....a summer that none of us will ever forget!!! 


 


Steve Lashever