But Josh Lansford's father may not be as easily impressed as many other dads. It seems that Josh's pop is ex-Major Leaguer and former American League batting champion Carney Lansford.

But Lansford certainly did his best to impress his dad in the 2002 Palomino League World Series, hosted by Santa Clara Pony Baseball at Washington Park recently.

Lansford ripped a two-out, two-run single on a 2-0 pitch to help the Santa Clara Red Sox roll to a 10-4 win over Bergen Beach of New York in the second round of World Series play.

The win was the second of the weekend for the Red Sox, Palomino World Series champions in 1999 and 2000. The Santa Clara club, made up of top players from the best teams in the Central Coast Section, had opened the tournament with a tight 3-2 win over Kyle Chapman Blue of Houston.

The Sox came back a day later to edge San Juan, Puerto Rico, 9-7, then ripped the Orange County Renegades 5-1 to win the World Series championship for the third time in four years. The Red Sox finished the season with an impressive 43-9 record.

West Valley College standout Lyle Wesley crushed a grand slam and Danny Romero tossed a two-hitter to lead the Red Sox to the title-clinching win over the Renegades.

The other local entry, the San Jose Rangers, lost 9-5 to the St. Louis Stallions in their first game on Friday night, but they came back to outlast Kyle Chapman Red 12-11 on Saturday. The Rangers lost 8-0 to the Renegades on Sunday.

The Red Sox played in the White Pool with Puerto Rico, Chapman Blue and Bergen Beach. The Rangers were in the Green Pool with the Renegades, Chapman Red and the Stallions.

Lansford, who starred last spring at St. Francis, came through with a big hit for the Red Sox in Saturday's win over Bergen Beach, and two mores runs scored later in the game when a fly ball off the bat of Troy Tulowitzki, a Fremont star last spring, was dropped in right field.

Bellarmine standouts Kevin Shull and Jason Matteucci combined to pitch the Red Sox to the important win.

Roy Angeles, Andy Blanco, Byron Cragg, Tyler Duran, Dan Kleemyer, Nate McDonald, Robert Perry, Mitch Ponza, Dustin Realini, Darrell Sales, Chuck Sindlinger and Andrew Slorp are other members of the powerful Red Sox squad. The manager is Chuck Blair, and his coaches are Ted Tamone and David Currie.

The Rangers got on the winning track on Saturday with an extra-inning victory over Chapman Red. The game went nine innings, but Tristan Shuman went the distance on the hill to get the win in the 12-11 game. Vince Gutierrez led the bat attack with three hits and a couple of walks.

The Rangers, a talented expansion team in Palomino play, are led by manager Ron Gutierrez. His coaches are Gary Caravalho and Jim Hale.

Other members of the squad include Ted Piggins, Steve Vidal, Nate Smith, Kevin McPeck, Nick Morris, Bo Caravalho, Jacob Haverman, Brett Mackie, Kyle Haverman, Matt Winck, Brandon Shimada, Aaron Jacks, Tim Strombol, Charlie A'Sala and Dave Yocke.

The Renegades beat Kyle Chapman Red 5-3, topped the Stallions 9-3 and beat the Rangers to get into the finals against the Red Sox.

In other games in the tournament, Bergen Beach beat San Juan 12-4 and Kyle Chapman Blue 8-7, San Juan nipped Kyle Chapman Blue and Kyle Chapman Red handled the Stallions
6-1.