Play Ball! Los Al Little League To Host International Baseball Series

Los Alamitos will take the world out to the ball game this summer.

The Los Alamitos Youth Baseball League will host the PONY Baseball's 2013 Bronco League World Series, said Los Al League president Brian Gorman at the City Council Monday night.  

Scheduled for Aug. 1 through 4, the four-day competition will feature teams of 11- and 12-year-olds from around the world.

“This event has been held in the City of Monterey, CA for the past 20 years, and is now ours,” Gorman said in a written statement on the league’s website.

“This single event will put LAYB, not only on a national stage for youth baseball, but on the stage of the WORLD. We have teams coming from across the USA and from Mexico, Asia and the Caribbean. Needless to say this is a very big deal for not only our league, but for the whole Los Alamitos community.”

At the meeting, Gorman handed out seven baseball caps with the Los Al league logo on them to city council and staff. One of the gifts' recipients was Councilman Richard Murphy, a former league player.

“I was a Los Al Youth Baseball all-star when I was 14 and 16,” Murphy said. “That would be 42 to 44 years ago.”

Murphy said it’s amazing that the league would get to host the big game.

“I’d love to be able help out in any way I could,” Murphy said.

Councilman Dean Grose called it a tremendous feat and compared it to the recent Olympics victory of the U.S. Woman’s water polo team, which practices at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.

“It’s great for the league and it’s great for the community,” Grose said. “I’m hoping the community gets involved with it.”

Grose added that he’d like the city to help, including, perhaps, by proclaiming the week of the competition “Los Al Youth Baseball” week.

The Los Al league is a non-profit organization offering fall and spring baseball programs to boys and girls ages 4-14 and serves the communities of Seal Beach, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Stanton, Cypress, Westminster and, of course, Los Al. In 2012, LAYB celebrated its 50th anniversary as a youth baseball league. 

Also at the meeting,

• Los Al leaders voted 3-2 against a plan to spend $10,000 on signs to promote awareness of a business watch group in the city.
• The city council appointed a new attorney.
• Officials voted to replace the asphalt at Orville Lewis Park Baseball Court. 

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