C.V. KNOCKING ON WORLD SERIES DOOR CONEJO 3, VISALIA 1.Byline: Gerry Gittelson Staff Writer SAN BERNARDINO San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. - It's been quite a journey for Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by Little League. But perhaps the best is yet to come. After defeating Visalia 3-1 in front of 7,800 Tuesday at Al Houghton Stadium, the 11- and 12-year-olds from Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. need just one more victory to qualify for the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Conejo Valley (16-0) gets its chance against Nevada (13-1) at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Western Regional championship game, which will be televised by ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network 2. ``I think we can do it. We're a great team, and we've beaten Nevada already,'' said Danny Leon, Conejo Valley's leading hitter. Leon and John Lister John Lister is the name of:
``We're trying not to get too nervous, but I'm excited,'' Lister said. ``It feels great to get a chance to play in front of millions of people.'' Pitching has carried Conejo Valley, which has held 13 of its 16 opponents to one run or less. Conejo Valley saved ace Cody Thomson for Thursday's finale. The 5-foot-9 right-hander struck out the final three Visalia batters for his first save, and he's 8-0 with a 1.30 ERA and 68 strikeouts in 37 innings. Visalia, which lost to Conejo Valley 12-0 in the first round of round-robin competition Aug. 1, put up a much better fight this time. The game remained scoreless through 3 1/2 innings before Lister homered off the top of the scoreboard in right field, his fifth of the season. ``I got a hanging curveball and just took it to right,'' Lister said. ``I was excited - very excited.'' Visalia's Tanner The code name for the Xeon version of the Pentium III chip. See Xeon. Mendonca answered with a home run in the fifth just inside the left-field foul pole to cut the lead to 2-1. Leon responded with a home run to center in the bottom of the inning Noun 1. bottom of the inning - the second half of an inning; while the home team is at bat bottom inning, frame - (baseball) one of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat to make it 3-1. ``For the first two innings, we were a little tentative,'' Brower said. ``I think it was because of playing in front of such a huge crowd. But the great thing about this team is we always get at least one or two home runs. That gives us a lot of run support.'' Conejo Valley handed Nevada its only loss 7-4 Friday in a game Nevada once led by two runs. A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected Thursday. The last local team to advance to Williamsport was Moorpark in 1996. The only local team ever to win the World Series title was Granada Hills in 1963. Gerry Gittelson, (661) 257-5218 gerry.gittelson(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): box Box: WESTERN REGIONAL |
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