14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • July 29, 2015
Polk County Sports
Underdogs come out on top of tourney
West Valley
Little League
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — At the begin-
ning of the season Micky
Garus wasn’t sure what he
had gotten himself into vol-
unteering to coach Kids
Inc.’s Majors recreational
softball team.
Most of last year’s team
had graduated into the next
level — majors are mostly
10, 11, and 12 year olds —
and some of the girls hadn’t
played a game of softball be-
fore. He called them the
“newbies” or the “misfits.”
It was a little like “Bad
News Bears,” but unlike the
movie namesake, this team
didn’t need to find secret
weapons to win. It had
everything it needed from
the beginning.
“I think they knew they
were the underdogs at the
beginning of the season,”
s a i d Ga r u s, w h o l a t e r
coached the area’s all-star
team. “In my 15 years of
coaching, I’ve never had a
team work so hard. I’m very
proud of them.”
Coach of the Kids, Inc.
Juniors team (12-14 year
olds), Paula Van Elverd-
inghe, is just as impressed of
how her post-season all-star
team performed in the face
of tragedy.
On July 11, team member
Kora Logan’s sister, Taylor,
was taken to the hospital
after an accident in a pool.
She died July 13, while the
team was playing in the
state tournament.
Taylor, 15, was the team’s
“cheerleader in the stands,”
said player Anna Van Elverd-
inghe, so they decided to
Majors team: Saman-
tha Baldwin,Natalia
Davis,Miah Friederick, Ana
Garus, Hayley Johnson,
Sonya Keller, Jocelyn
McMillan, Amaryssa
Mooney, Hunter Partain,
Madison Rodriguez, Abi-
gail Sambuceto, Shanoah
Saunders, Kalie Schrock.
Coaching staff: Micky
G a r u s, S h aw n a D av i s
Tamra Rober.
Juniors team: Rachael
R u m a n , L i l y C o m e r,
Mackenzie Broussard, Jessi-
ca Nolan, Taryn Hunt, Kyra
Church, Anna Van Elverd-
inghe, Jenessa Parnell ,
Norma Hernandez, Delaney
Headley, Kora Logan, Adri-
an Lee, Bailey Golden.
Coaching staff: Paula
Van Elverdinghe, Nora Par-
nell, Allyson Mitchell.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICKY GARUS
West Valley Little League Majors team won its district tournament earlier this month to move on to state competition.
play on in memory of their
friend.
“We were going to play
our best for her because we
know that is what she would
have wanted,” Anna said.
In Little League, all-star
teams are selected by coach-
es from teams in their region.
Dallas was well-represented
on both the West Valley Little
League Majors and Juniors
all-star teams, which both
won district titles and moved
on to the state tournament.
Garus said it’s been years
since a Little League team —
not to mention two — from
this area has gone to state.
West Valley’s Minors team
(9-10 year olds) also per-
formed well in the district
tournament, taking second
place.
Garus said while he had
his doubts at first, it didn’t
take long before he knew the
regular season was going to
be special.
“It didn’t take me more
than a couple of weeks to
see they were loving the
game and were dedicated,”
Garus said. “We got better
every day.”
Team members attribute
that to how quickly they that
got to know and trust each
other and teamwork.
“We all had our parts to
do,” said team member Abi-
gail Sambuceto. “It was like
we all had a perfect part to
play.”
Garus said Abigail exem-
plified that work ethic. She
hadn’t played softball before
and struggled with hitting.
He told her to practice at
home.
She took that seriously,
having her dad pitch to her
until he “didn’t want to
throw the ball anymore.”
Practice made perfect.
“She became one of my
more reliable long ball hit-
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ters,” he said.
And she was a member of
the all-star team at the end
of her first season.
“Next year, I’m going to
do it better and practice
more,” she said.
Van Elverdinghe’s regular
season team from Dallas be-
came a force to be reckoned
with during the season, only
losing one game and putting
up impressive scores on op-
ponents. The only team to
defeat them was from Eu-
gene, but Dallas took its re-
venge, posting wins in the
other two meetings.
Those winning ways car-
ried over into the post-sea-
son with the all-star team.
“The girls were on fire.
They pitched well. Everyone
was hitting well,” Van
Elverdinghe said.
The team took the district
title by soundly defeating of a
Albany-Eugene team.
“I think we all got along
pretty good and we knew
each other pretty good and
that helped us a lot,” Anna
Van Elverdinghe said.
It helped them after Tay-
lor Logan’s accident, too.
“We got together to talk to
the girls and they decided to
play in Taylor’s honor,” Van
Elverdinghe said. “I thought
they handled the situation
very well.”
Team members wore ban-
danas to commemorate her
at the state tournament and
attended her funeral in their
jerseys, chanting the same
cheers she used to yell for
them from the stands.
The teams weren’t able to
bring home state titles dur-
ing tournaments earlier this
month, but Garus and Van
Elverdinghe think the suc-
cess of these girls is a good
sign for softball in Dallas.
“We had a great time and
a great season,” Van Elverd-
inghe said. I hope to see
them all playing next year.”
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