Saratoga News

Sports

West Valley Pop Warner knocks off Santa Clara, but falls to Vallejo

By Greg Lydon

It's is a year Jake Whipple will never forget. His summer started as a member of the Moreland Little League all-star team that nearly made a run to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

Playing shortstop and catcher for his all-star team, Whipple was behind the plate, catching for the flame-throwing right-hander Kane Wolfe, as Moreland took home the District 44 title, before eventually falling in the Western Regionals in San Bernadino.

Whipple, second baseman J.T. Bagnanno and Jason Sutton all drove straight from the Western Regionals to football practice after the Moreland baseball squad's run ended in August.

"It's a neat thing to see how much success these kids have had over the past couple of months," Karen Whipple said.

This fall Whipple and his two teammates played on a 10-1 West Valley Pop Warner team that nearly played its way to Orlando, Fla., representing the Pacific Northwest in the Pop Warner eight-team super bowl tournament.

The Moreland trio of seventh graders all attend Moreland Middle School.

"Going to the Western Regional Little League tournament this summer and then playing in the Pacific Northwest Pop Warner championship game, this fall was just amazing," Jake Whipple said. "I'll never forget 2007."

West Valley shut out a strong Santa Clara team 12-0 to take home the Division I Peninsula championship in a rainy slugfest highlighted by a shutout performance from the West Valley defense.

The fun ended on Nov. 25 when West Valley ran into a redhot team from Vallejo. Vallejo knocked off West Valley 30-8, ending the local team's hopes for a bid to Orlando.