CVESD teacher Ric Ramirez takes Park View Little League all the way to the championship of the World Series

* * * LATEST NEWS: CHULA VISTA WINS LITTLE LEAGUE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

August 30, 2009: Little League World Series Chula Vista wins, 6-3 By Jason Owens, SDNN Kiko Garcia finished the game off in relief as Chula Vista's Blue Bombers secured the Little League World Series championship over Chinese Tapei on Sunday -- without hitting a home run.

August 27, 2009: Park View wins 11-10 after being down 10-5 "against the undefeated team from Robbins, Georgia. It was the first elimination game, meaning the losing team is out of the tournament's championship bracket."
--NBC San Diego by GREG BLEDSOE

August 25, 2009: Park View lost 6-3 to San Antonio’s McAllister Park
San Antonio upends Chula Vista’s Park View Little League in Tuesday’s final game of pool play. While both teams had already secured a berth in the U.S. semifinal round of play, the win gives San Antonio (3-0) the top seed out of pool B.
--By Jason Owens, SDNN


Sunday Aug. 23, 2009: Pitching its second straight Little League World Series shutout, Park View tops New England's Peabody LL, 14-0 to advance to the semifinal round of the LLWS U.S. bracket.

On August 22, 2009 the Park View Little Leaguers won 15-0 against the Great Lakes champions from Kentucky.













Park View Little League coach Ric Ramirez talks with catcher Junior Porras during the Little League Western Region finals at Al Houghton Stadium.

March to Williamsport
Something to cheer about
San Diego Union Tribune
August 2009

Chula Vista's moment in the spotlight has been delivered by a dozen 11- to 13-year-olds who have parlayed years of practice on the rough diamonds of Oleander Avenue into a Little League World Series berth in South Williamsport, Pa. At 5 p.m.Saturday, the Park View All-Stars take the field in their first game of the tournament.


Link: Interview with coach Ric Ramirez


PARK VIEW ROSTER

Isaiah Armenta,
Oscar Castro Jr.,
Nick Conlin,
Kiko Garcia,
Bulla Graft,
Seth Godfrey,
Markus Melin,
Jensen Petersen,
Daniel Porras Jr.,
Luke Ramirez,
Andy Rios,
Bradley Roberto.
Manager: Oscar Castro.
Coach: Ric Ramirez.


This Teacher is also a Student of the Game
Finney’s Ric Ramirez Guides Park View LL On and Off-Field
by Scott Hopkins
8/21/2009

Myrtle S. Finney Elementary teacher Ric Ramirez has been lifted from his classroom, swirled around in a euphoric tornado of peak experiences and awe-inspiring good fortune, and dropped gently in the middle of Pennsylvania.

However, it’s the location in The Quaker State that has Ramirez gushing with excitement and anticipation—South Williamsport, the world headquarters of Little League baseball.

Ramirez is the coach of Park View Little League’s All-Star team, a talented and dedicated group of 12 and 13-year-olds that has won the hearts of Chula Vista and Southern California by earning a trip to The Big Time, Little League Baseball’s annual World Series tournament.

But he’s also taking time away from his “other team,” a group of 31 fifth-graders at Finney School. A 10-year veteran teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District, Ramirez has also taught at Castle Park School...


Former Triton Ric Ramirez Set To Coach Chula Vista Park View At The Little League World Series
Courtesy: UCSD
Release: 08/20/2009

Ric Ramirez and current UCSD head coach Dan O'Brien helped guide the Tritons to the Division III National Championships in 1994.
LA JOLLA, Calif. - Former UC San Diego third baseman Ric Ramirez, a key member of the 1994 Triton baseball team that advanced to the Division III College World Series, continues to make headlines in the sport 15 years later. Ramirez is a coach with Chula Vista Park View and helped the squad reach the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pa. after claiming the West Region Championship with an 11-4 victory over Northern California on Sunday.

Ramirez was the starting third baseman on UCSD's 1994 squad that went 33-8 overall and lost 5-1 to Wesleyan University in the D-III Championship Semifinals. The Chula Vista High School product led the team with six home runs that season, while batting .303 with 11 doubles, 24 runs, and 27 RBI.

He was a teammate of current Triton head coach Dan O'Brien, who played first base in 1994.

"Ricky was an impact player much like his son," said O'Brien. "When Ricky transferred to UCSD, we knew we had a chance to win the World Series... He was that kind of player. Now he's making an impact coaching."

Ramirez and Park View will open the 2009 LLWS on Friday, August 21 when pool play begins. One of eight teams from the United States competing in South Williamsport, Park View is in Pool B along with Peabody, Mass., Russellville, Ky., and San Antonio, Texas...

Park View Little Leaguers to go to World Series

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Click HERE for updates.


Luke Ramirez is literally head and shoulders above his Park View teammates. (John R. McCutchen / Union-Tribune)

Big, friendly giant
Park View player Ramirez's legend, like him, just keeps growing
By Don Norcross
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
August 20, 2009


SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — In this sleepy little town tucked between the Bald Eagle and Allegheny mountains, the legend of Luke Ramirez grows...

When the 6-foot-2, 200-pound, 13-year-old Ramirez walked about the dorm cafeteria Tuesday, one rival player looked at him and asked in all seriousness, “Why is the coach wearing a uniform?”

Ramirez, a good-natured sort, shrugs off the attention.

“I don't let it bother me,” he said yesterday, swatting gnats off his face after a humid morning practice. “I'm kind of looking forward to some new lines from people here.”...

Said Ramirez's mother, Kasey, “It used to make me quite angry. I felt like people were calling us liars (about his age) and that used to frustrate me to no end. Since then, I've learned it comes with the territory. Deep down, I know he's my son. I know he's just a special boy.”

Every August some kids show up here looking like they shop in the men's department. Three years ago it was Aaron Durley from Saudi Arabia. At 6-9, 245, Durley is the biggest player in Little League World Series history.

Ramirez isn't even the biggest player at this year's tournament. That distinction goes to Durley's little brother, Cameron, who dresses out at 6-2, 233. The smallest player is Japan's Kenya Kawashima: 4-6 and 72 pounds.

After the Danny Almonte incident in 2001, Little League Baseball has tried to tighten its age-verification process. Almonte pitched the first LLWS perfect game in 44 years and helped eliminate Oceanside American 1-0. Though Almonte was not large in stature, he later was determined to be 14, two years over the limit. Players must be no older than 12 as of April 30. Ramirez turned 13 on May 15.

Since the Almonte flap, Little League has required leagues to submit players' original birth certificates rather than copies. At the first round of All-Star playoffs, the tournament director and each team's league president sign an affidavit, verifying the ages have been checked.

Ric Ramirez, Luke's father and a Park View coach, took extra precautions during the team's playoff run. Manager Oscar Castro kept Luke's original birth certificate. Ramirez carried one in his coaching bag and kept a third in his truck...

“For his size,” said Kelley, “he's got agility. He's not clumsy by any means.”

As big as he is, Ramirez is not Park View's most prolific home run hitter. At the West Region tournament in San Bernardino, pitcher/outfielder Kiko Garcia (5-6, 140) clubbed 12 home runs. Ramirez hit four.

But some of Ramirez's long, towering blasts have taken on mythical proportions. In a game at Park View's field, one sailed over eucalyptus trees estimated to be 75 feet tall.

“It was just manly,” said Kasey Ramirez.

At San Bernardino, one cleared a Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes concession stand at least 100 feet beyond the 200-foot outfield fence...





Local Little Leaguers headed to World Series
Chula Vista team wins West Region title, will go to S. Williamsport
By Don Norcross
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
August 17, 2009

SAN BERNARDINO — Three hours before Park View Little League's showdown with Northern California yesterday, fans of the Chula Vista team filled a parking lot, painting their faces green and white.

Two hours before the first pitch, the locals began filling Al Houghton Stadium.

“I'm getting a good seat for my brother,” Eduardo Garcia said.

Five pitches into the game, shortstop Andy Rios scalded a line-drive home run to right. Three batters later, Kiko Garcia, Eduardo's little brother, lofted a two-run homer over the scoreboard.

“It's over,” said one fan.

Soon enough, it was.

In a nationally televised game on ESPN2 and in front of an overflow crowd of 13,350, Park View erupted for eight runs in the final two innings and buried the team from Granite Bay-Loomis outside Sacramento, 11-4, to win the West Region title.

Park View's reward: a trip to South Williamsport, Pa., for the Little League World Series.

“Oh my, this feels great,” Rios said. “It's every little 11-and 12-year-old boy's dream to go there.”

Back in June, more than 6,500 leagues worldwide fielded All-Star teams in the Majors division. Only 16 make it to South Williamsport. Only eight of those represent the United States...