Webmaster Jeff Frese

Saturday, July 16, 7:05 Game at Banner Island Park
Hoover Tyler's 9 & 10 Year Olds To Be Honored At Stockton Ports Game

Hoover Tyler's 9 & 10 Year Old team, the Little League District 8 All Star Champions, will be honored in a pre-game ceremony at Banner Island Park before the start of the Stockton Ports game versus the Bakersfield Blaze. Tickets are available at the Stockton Ports web page or can be purchased at the ballpark. The game time is scheduled for 7:05 PM, but Hoover Tyler fans may want to arrive early to see the ceremony. (Unlike the Stockton Record, the Stockton Ports continue to support our Little League programs and we should support them. Look for an update on former Hoover Tyler player & former Stockton Ports player Dallas Braden coming soon. He is doing fantastic at the AA level.)

California District 8 Tournament of Champions
A's Go Back To Back, Baby!!

   June 28, 2005 - While we didn't always understand it, Manager Ron Clark always had a plan. If you were one of the people he called for advice or to run the plan by you, you understood it. If you weren't privy to that planning, sometimes you wondered what in the world he could be thinking. The fact of the matter is, it always seemed to work. It has for two years now.
   Once again, the Hoover Tyler Little League A's have taken the District 8 title of Major Division Champions for the Tournament of Champions. Only this was no ordinary game.
   Like last year, thirteen teams entered the tournament as league champions. Like last year, only one team can claim the title of Champion of Champions. Hoover Tyler Little League A's. Back to Back.
   The game started out pretty normal. Neither team scored in the first inning. We would be remiss, though, if we didn't mention the great defensive play turned in by J. T. Goodwin, that prevented Western Little League's Angels from scoring in the first inning. After one out, Brandon Cornelison, the Angels #2 hitter in the line-up, singled. The next batter, Joe Nomelini, smashed the ball towards left field. Cornelison headed for third base. Goodwin scooped the ball up and in one motion fired an on target bullet to third baseman Phillip Clark, who applied the tag. Two outs. Rally killed.

   In the Angels' top half of the second inning, right fielder Kevin Atwater singled and eventually worked his way around to scoring due to a couple of miscues. During the inning, Hoover Tyler again killed a rally, this time with a double play after a grounder to Brandon Gildea resulted in him stepping on second base and firing to first baseman, Drew Mesa.
   In the bottom half of the second inning, the A's failed to score. Two innings completed - Angels 1, A's 0.
In the top of the third inning, Angel's shortstop Daniel Perez singled after one out. The next batter, Brandon Cornelison, put a big hush into the Hoover Tyler crowd by cracking a home run. The inning could have gotten a lot worse because the next batter, Nomelini, singled, but the A's once again killed a rally by turning a double play from Nino to Gildea to Mesa.
   The tension began to build.
   In the A's bottom half of the third, tensions were eased somewhat when Andrew Brey singled after one out. Clark then singled. Alex Nino then came through again with a single that scored Brey. Brandon Gildea then came up and singled, scoring Clark to get the game to a 3 - 2 deficit for the A's.
   In the top of the fourth, pitcher Bowe Merin retired the Angels in one-two-three fashion.
   In the bottom of the fourth, the A's fans were able to breathe a sigh of relief as the A's struck for two runs. Bowe Merin singled, but was forced out at second base on a fielders choice grounder by Adam Peterson. Ryan Gildea then drew a walk. Peterson and the younger Gildea both advanced on a wild pitch. The A's clutch hitter, Phillip Clark then singled in both runners at a very critical point in the game. It would not be the end of the heroics for Clark, as we would later see in the game. A's 4, Angels 3.
   In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Angels threw daggers into the hearts of the A's team and their fans by staging a power display. Pitcher Drew Mesa entered the game and promptly struck out the first two Angel hitters of the inning. The next batter, Daniel Perez, cracked a home run to tie the game at 4 a piece. Before the A's could settle back down, the next batter, Brandon Cornelison also hit a fence-clearing home run. Did we start to doubt? Maybe.
   Now you could cut the tension with a knife.
   In the A's bottom of the fifth, relief was spelled, as it had been many times, with Gildea-Mesa-Merin. Gildea stroked a single to lead off the inning. After a strikeout and a stolen base by Gildea, Drew Mesa came up big by cracking a double scoring Gildea with the tying run.

   The next batter, Bowe Merin doubled just inside the first base line, knocking in the go-ahead run in Mesa.
Through 5 innings: A's 6, Angels 5.

   The Angels didn't let their fans down in the top of the sixth inning. With one out and as if scripted, Angel Thomas Hernandez singled. The next batter, Solomon Means, also singled. Runners at first and second with one out. The next batter grounded sharply to Brandon Gildea. Gildea checked the runner back to third base and fired to first base for the second out, but Hernandez broke for the plate. In a very close play at the plate, Hernandez scored the tying run. Mesa struck out the next Angel batter to end the inning. A's 6, Angels 6.
   In the bottom of the sixth, it was time to see what the A's were really made of.
   The A's sparkplug, Phillip Clark, led the inning off with a double, but while the Angels were getting the ball back to the pitcher, Clark attempted to go to third base and ended up in a rundown. After a miscue at second base, Clark narrowly avoided a sweep tag by the Angels third baseman to safely gain third base. Clark's heroics set the A's up with a runner on third and no outs.
Ron Clark's mind was now into planning mode again. As he had for the past two years, Clark's plan would succeed.
   With one of his best hitter's at the plate and no outs, Ron Clark was going for broke. Alex Nino squared around to bunt, knocking the ball towards the pitcher. Phillip Clark didn't hesitate and busted for home plate. The play was going to be close. Safe. Clark Scores! Clark Scores! Game Over!
   Final Score: A's 7, Angels 6
   Bedlam breaks out. Hugs all around. In a repeat of last year's championship game, the A's defeated the Western LL Angels. Congratulations guys!

(Not to put a damper on the celebration, but where was the Stockton Record? They have, unfortunately, decided to no longer support our program by writing about the tournaments. Thanks for nothing Tom Patterson - Sports Editor.)

(Please do me a favor - sign in on the guestbook if you read this article - let the boys and coaches know your feelings.)

Ambriz Hits Fourth Homer of Tournament
Gildea's No-Hitter Sends TOC's To Second & Final Championship Game

   Monday, June 27, 2005 - Manager Ron Clark's strategy was to start Ryan Gildea, try to score a bunch of runs in the first inning, then coast from there. Plan B was to use his ace fireballer, Brandon Gildea, if Plan A did not work out in the first inning. The A's hit the ball in the first inning, but they were all to the strong defense of Western Little League's Angels, who showed why they are in the Championship game with the defending champion A's.
   In what must have left many in the crowd wondering what was going on, the younger Gildea was ordered to intentionally walk the first batter, Daniel Perez, in the bottom of the first inning. After that walk, there were no more questions as Clark made an immediate pitching change to the older Gildea after one batter.
   Brandon Gildea walked the next batter and Perez ended up on third base after a wild pitch. The third batter flied out to right, but the runner scored from third base. In true Gildea fashion, Brandon struck out the next two batters.
   In the A's half of the second inning, Bo Merin got things started with a single. The next batter, Adam Peterson then walked. After a strikeout, Ryan Gildea drew a walk. Phillip Clark then hit into a fielders choice, but knocked in the A's first run of the game. The next batter, Alex Nino, then doubled in the go ahead runs to put Hoover Tyler's A's up 3 - 1.
   In the Angels half of the second inning, the leadoff hitter, Solomon Means, walked, and ended up on third base after a couple of wild pitches, but Gildea stranded him their after striking out the next three batters.
   In the top of the third inning, the A's struck for another one after Noel Ambriz lead off with a walk, Drew Mesa grounded into a fielders choice, Bo Merin singled and Adam Peterson grounded out but drove in Mesa to make the score 4 - 1.
   In the bottom of the third, Gildea set down the side, one, two, three, by inducing two groundouts and striking out the Angels #3 hitter, Joe Nomelini.
   The A's went quietly in the top of the fourth, gaining no hit or runs.
   In the bottom of the fourth inning, Brandon Gildea again showed his dominance over the rest of the district as he struck out all three hitters he faced.
   In the top of the fifth inning, Noel Ambriz, the A's clean-up hitter, came up big again, as he had all tournament. On the first pitch he saw from Angels pitcher Jason Horton, Ambriz hit the ball over the fence for a solo homerun. This was Ambriz's fourth homerun of the tournament. A's 5, Angels 1.
   In the bottom of the fifth inning, Gildea seemed to be only getting stronger with every pitch as he again retired the side in one, two, three fashion, as he struck out two and Perez flew out to right field.
   In the top of the sixth inning, the A's scored their final run after Adam Peterson singled, then after two consecutive groundouts, Phillip Clark drove in Peterson with a single.
   In the bottom of the final inning, Gildea struck out the first batter he faced, then after Nomelini got on base on an error, induced the Angels #3 hitter into a fly ball to center, and then struck out his thirteenth Angel of the game. Thirteen strikeouts in 6 innings - an average of more than two batters per inning. Amazing. Oh, by the way, in case you didn't notice, Gildea did not allow a single hit during the game. Absolutely amazing. Final Score - Hoover Tyler A's 6, Western Little League Angels 1.
   The A's are now even with the Angels and the final Championship game will be played Tuesday, June 28 at 5:30 PM at Sundown Little League field #1. Good luck guys! Go A's. Back to Back!

Hoover Tyler A's Set To Defend Title
A's In Championship Game For Second Consecutive Year

Sunday, June 26, 2005 - When the A's needed them most, Drew Mesa, Alex Nino, Phillip Clark and Bo Merin came up big Sunday morning. With their backs to the wall in the losers bracket and one game from elimination, the A's had to dig deep in order to stay alive in the District 8 Tournament of Champions. Phillip Clark held the Morada team, a team that had scored 51 runs for the tournament, to two runs through 4 1/2 innings. Going into the bottom of the fifth inning the score was tied 2 - 2. Phillip Clark singled and then stole third base. Alex Nino then singled, knocking in Clark for the go-ahead run. Fearing the damage that Brandon Gildea might cause in a close game, the Morada manager decided to intentionally walk him. The next batter, Noel Ambriz, moved both runners over (second & third) with an infield out. Drew Mesa then stroked the big hit of the inning by doubling to score both Nino and Gildea. Relief pitcher, Bo Merin, finished off the elimination of our sister league, Morada, by closing them down for the last five outs without any damage.
The A's will face the Western Little League Angels on Monday, June 27, at 5:30 PM. This first championship game will be played at Sundown Little League field #1. Since the Western Little League Angels are undefeated, the HTLL A's must defeat them two games in a row, in order to claim the Championship for a second consecutive year.

Tournament of Champions
Home Run Club Leads HTLL Major A's to Victory

Batting first through fourth for the defending District 8 Major TOC Champions has its challenges - a challenge that these four players have met and then some. While the A's are all about a total team effort for all 12 players, these four have carried the big bats so far and have their very own home run club. Last Saturday, Phillip Clark was the first to join the club with a fence-clearing home run against Morada.
On Thursday night (June 23), three other members joined the HR Club against Southern Little League; Alex Nino, Brandon Gildea and Noel Ambriz - who hit two fence-clearing home runs. Thanks, in part, to the big bats of the HR Club, Hoover Tyler's A's remained undefeated in the Major Tournament of Champions. Who will be the next member of the HR Club?

Saturday, June 25, 2005

HTLL Major A's suffered their first defeat of the tournament to Western LL. Noel Ambriz accounted for the lone run for the A's when he hit a home run (Noel has hit three fence-clearing home runs during the tournament). Next Game: Sunday, June 26 vs. Morada LL at Sundown LL Field #1 - 10 AM. There are only three teams left in the tournament.

Thursday, June 23
Hoover Tyler Major A's remain undefeated, beating Southern Little League 17 - 7. The next game will feature the only two remaining undefeated teams in the tournament. Hoover Tyler LL A's vs. Western LL Angels at Sundown LL Field #1 - Saturday, June 25 - 10 AM.

Wednesday, June 22
Junior Team White eliminated - What a great season! - Nice job Jason & coaches! See you at All Stars.

Tuesday, June 21
Junior White Team lost. Record now 1 - 1. Next game: Wednesday, June 22 at Bear Creek High School.

Monday, June 20
Minor A Giants Eliminated - Congratulations on a fine season!

Sunday, June 19
Major A's Beat Sundown. Record Now 2 - 0. Next Game: Thursday, June 23, At Sundown LL Field #2 vs. Southern LL - 5:30 PM

Minor A Giants Suffer 1st Defeat. Record 1 - 1. Next Game: Monday, June 20, At HTLL Field #1 - 5:30 PM

Saturday, June 18
Junior White Team Wins! Next Game - Tuesday, 5:30 PM, South Field at Bear Creek High School

Major A's Win! Next Game - Sunday, June 19, 1 PM, Field #1 at Sundown LL

June 2005
Upcoming Events
Hoover Tyler To Host District 8 Minor A Tournament of Champions
Volunteers Needed

Hoover Tyler, has once again been awarded the responsibility of hosting the Minor A Tournament of Champions for 2005. The tournament will run from Saturday, June 18 through Monday, June 27. This tournament involves competition of all of the 13 league Minor A champions around the District. This is a large fundraiser for our league and past results have shown a $5000 - $10,000 profit from the snackbar proceeds. The tournament requires lots of volunteer hours. Our league is responsible for supplying scorekeepers, field maintenance & set-up, and of course snackbar help. Please contact our President, Mark Lujan, to volunteer, even if it's for only one date. We sure could use your help.

Tournament Season Draws Near
Brackets Finalized For All TOC & All Star Tournaments

The tournament season is almost upon us. Hoover Tyler will be sending three (3) teams to the District 8 Tournament of Champions and four (4) teams to the District level All Star Tournament.
Tournament of Champions: The TOC's are for all winning teams from the Minor A Division and up. The District will be putting on tournaments for Minor A Baseball, Major Division Baseball and Junior Division Baseball this year. The winning team is crowned District 8 Champion for their division. The tournament does not continue on to another level. Hoover Tyler's A's (Majors) are the defending District Champions. This tournament is a double elimination tournament.

   April 9, 2005 - The rains came the day before and the night before. More than one board member was awoken by the sounds of it after midnight, Saturday morning. At around 7:20 AM, the final word came from President Mark Lujan; Opening Ceremonies is on! Right about the time we needed it, the sun broke through the clouds and the teams filed onto field number one, as they had for the previous 54 years of our Little League's existence.
   To open the ceremonies, HTLL parent Valerie Zamorano sang a beautiful rendition of our national anthem. President Mark Lujan announced the major 2004 season accomplishment of winning both the District 8 (all Stockton Little Leagues) Major Division Tournament of Champions (A's) and also winning the 11 & 12 year old All Star tournament in the same year. All of the players who participated on these two teams were given individual plaques in recognition for their efforts. Fundraising Chairman Rick Paulsen recognized all of our current sponsors with a special recognition award being presented to Delta Bluegrass and the Zuckerman's for their donations of sod to keep the Hoover Tyler fields in tip-top shape.
   Information Officer, Jeff Frese, was given the honors of introducing a very special guest, Stockton Port's player Dallas Braden. Frese spoke about how this player worked his way up

through the baseball ranks from playing baseball at Stockton's Stagg High School, American River College, Texas Tech University, and in 2004, with Oakland A's affiliates Vancouver and Kane County. What Frese failed to mention until the very end of the introduction, was the fact that Braden was not only a local person from Stockton making good, but Braden played Little League baseball from age 4 (Little League 5) to 12 at our very own Hoover Tyler Little League. By all appearances, Dallas Braden and the Stockton Ports have gained an additional 350 kids and hundreds of parents as instant fans.
Braden gave a brief speech that included inspiring the kids to never give up. Braden made a point of praising single mothers and asked them to continue to fight the good fight and encouraged them to continue to bring their kids to Little League events, because that may make all of the difference in the world for their children. After his inspiring speech, Braden threw out the first pitch of the season to HTLL Major A's player Brandon Gildea.
The opening ceremonies wrapped up after all of the players were introduced.

   March 25, 2005 - Our fundraising efforts have begun and we want to let you know that we really appreciate those who have given their hard earned money and time to make Hoover Tyler the great youth sports organization that it is today. Every year we depend on your generosity to maintain the standards that we have set. These standards include maintaining our own fields that are the envy of the District. Hoover Tyler is fortunate to own our own fields, but along with that comes the fact that we also can't depend on any other organization to help us with our needs. The registration fees that we accumulate are a small portion of the cost for running our league.
   Over the past several years, your donations have not only allowed us to maintain the seasonal needs, such as uniforms and equipment, but have also allowed us to purchase a new sprinkler system (2001), renovate the fields, remodel the snack bar, repair fencing and provide shading for the dugouts and bleachers, among other things.
   In addition to the items stated above, your donations have also allowed us to hand out "scholarships" for those families that cannot afford the registration fees. Our league is one of the only leagues that actually advertises the fact the no child will be turned away due to an inability to afford the registration fees.
   Rick Paulsen is leading our fundraising efforts this year. Rick has received donations from some of you this year and we would like to make sure that everyone will have this opportunity. Please take the time to go to our sponsorship page to see if you can help us out. We are a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, so your donations are tax deductible. Thank you from our hearts to yours.

Jason Mejia, Geoff Donnelley and Terry Burns To Lead Hoover Tyler's Two Junior Teams

   February 19, 2005 - President Mark Lujan has announced that manager Jason Mejia will be returning for a second year as manager of one of our Junior teams (13 - 14 year olds). Jason did a fine job last year as the first year manager of our only Junior team in many years. His positive philosophy shined brightly last year and was reflected in the attitude of the players. This year, the number of players staying with the Little League program after graduating from the small field, has doubled. We believe this is in response to the positive image that Jason and his troops modeled last year.
   Lujan also announced that veteran coaches Geoff Donnelley (manager) and Terry Burns (coach) will be running the other Junior team. Geoff & Terry have coached a major division team together for the past three years and Terry has been managing teams for many years at Hoover Tyler. Terry is a past board member, as was his father when Terry played Little League at Hoover Tyler.

Team Managers Appointed

   February 19, 2005 - With the recommendation of Mark Lujan and the manager candidate interview panel, the Board of Directors has approved the following list of managers for the 2005 season:

Major Managers
Ron Clark - A's
Laurence Held - Yankees
Lorenzo Hidalgo - Rockies
Steve Michaels - Dodgers
Mike Sullivan - Giants
Rob Vieira - Red Sox

Minor A Managers
Eric Ambriz
Brian Doyle
Rick Paulsen
Sanjeev Sharma
Matt Simas
Joe Valeros

Minor B Managers
Tom Cortopassi
Art Davis
Hector Ayala
Rick Paulsen
John Ramirez
Ike Standridge
Blake Tatum

Tee Ball Managers
Michael Del Campo III
Ben Griswald
Ross Guntert
John Looper
Larry Low
Asa Murray
Bill Schubert

Managers are encouraged to use their team website page to keep their families informed. Managers can submit their coaches names, team parent name, practice schedules, pictures, game stories and any other information they would like to be published.

Oscar Is On Our Mind

Read about one of our own and decide how you can help.

2005 Opening Day & Photo Day In For A Change
Play To Begin Before Opening Ceremonies

   For the last couple of years, our opening ceremony has begun on the first Saturday in April. The reason for this was because games played prior to the start of daylight savings created a situation whereby many make-up games had to be played because they could not be completed due of darkness. This year's calendar has imposed an even greater challenge due to several factors; Easter and spring break are occurring a lot earlier this year and many of our kids will participate in the Science Olympiad on April 2. Unfortunately, in the past, this has meant that those kids were left out of our opening ceremonies and left out of their team photo.
   In an effort to resolve these issues, the Board of Directors has decided to have opening ceremonies on April 9. This decision posed a difficult challenge to the schedule, so the Board also decided that Hoover Tyler would begin games on Monday, April 4, before the actual opening ceremony, in order to get in a full schedule of games for the season.
   One other change was made to our typical schedule. Picture day will be divided into two different Saturdays; the Tee ball and Minor B pictures will be taken on April 9, the day of opening ceremonies, and the Minor A and Major division team pictures will be taken on Saturday, April 16.

Art Davis Leads Work Day Efforts
On Saturday, January 22, 2005, Hoover Tyler had it's first work day of the year. The efforts were led by Facilities Maintenance Coordinator Art Davis. During the day the volunteers worked on repairing benches, cutting grass, smoothing the fields, clearing the area beyond left field on field # 2 for additional bleachers, and trimming trees, among other things. Special thanks to Mike Belcher, Rob Vieira, Rick Paulsen, Eric Ambriz, Mark Lujan, Debbie Lujan (refreshments), Mike Sullivan, Ron Clark, Jon Uota, Jeff Frese, and of course, Art Davis.

November 16, 2004
Sullivan Named Coaching Coordinator - Belcher Moves To Vice President

Due to a vacancy in the Board of Directors, at the Vice President position, President Mark Lujan announced his desire to move Mike Belcher, our current Coaching Coordinator, to the position of Vice President. Mark stated that long time coach and volunteer Mike Sullivan was interested in becoming the coaching coordinator. The motion was put to a Board of Directors' vote on November 16 and was carried unanimously. Please welcome Mike Sullivan to the Board of Directors and congratulate Mike Belcher on his new position. Thanks for serving our kids guys!
Stories Behind The News: Mike Sullivan played quarterback for Sacramento State College. During that time, 1981 - 83, he set the record for the most passing yardage at 5,085 yards. That record stood for 19 years. In an article in the Sacramento Bee, written on September 23, 2004, Sullivan was named to the Top 10 All-Time Skill Players (quarterbacks, receivers, running backs) for Sacramento State.
Mike Belcher is a retired Stockton police lieutenant who is now the Chief of Police at the University of Pacific.
Mark Lujan is also a recently retired police lieutenant from the Stockton Police Department.

Hoover Tyler Player Agent, Kathy Peers, Named District 8 Player Agent

Kathy Peers has been named the Player Agent for District 8. Kathy served as Hoover Tyler Player Agent in 2004 and will again in 2005.
California District 8 Little League is comprised of the thirteen Little Leagues in Stockton. They include Delta LL, Eastern LL, Hoover Tyler LL, Sunrise LL, Rio Calaveras LL, Pioneer LL, Sundown LL, Morada LL, Sunset LL, Southern LL, Northern LL, Pacific LL, and Western LL.