Land Park Pacific seeks Sacramento area’s first Little League World Series bid since 1983

The battle cry for this baseball bunch in East Sacramento is quick and catchy, a staple since the chill of February practices and right on into the searing heat of tournaments near and far.

Belted out in chorus in the dugout, it goes: “Bang, Bang, Dooley Gang!”

Borrowed and modified a bit from rapper E-40’s video for the San Francisco 49ers, the Land Park Pacific All-Star Little League team has enjoyed a summer to remember. The 12-year-olds are having the time of their lives and stand one step away from really making history.

Winning the West Regional tournament in San Bernardino next week will send Land Park Pacific to the promised land of competition at this level: the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the youth sports crown jewel since its inception in 1947.

“We’re having an absolute blast,” Land Park Pacific head coach Jeff Zimmerman said. His son, Bryce, is on the team and his wife, Amanda, is one of several invaluable parents who have poured their time into this. For all of them, this has become “The Summer of Ball.”

“These kids are so good and play so hard,” the coach added. “We just make out the lineup card and watch them play.”

The Land Park Pacific All-Stars open the double-elimination tournament against stories Hawaii at 3 p.m. Sunday on ESPN+. The team will leave Sacramento on Thursday morning for the eight-hour drive south. Regardless of what happens in San Bernardino, the Land Park Pacific All-Stars have already won the hearts of their families, their schools and their city.

If all of this seems like a tall order for a program that had modest goals of just reaching the postseason, it is. Little League baseball might be a kid’s game, but no one would define it as a breeze. It’s not easy sledding to survive these tournaments in the most populated state in the country, where the sheer player numbers intensify the competition.

The 1973 Pacific All-Stars reached the state tournament. The famed 1983 Pacific All-Stars are the last regional team to make it to Williamsport. Members of that team have stopped by recent games and practices to cheer on the next generation, a collection of boys who have grown up together, a good many of them attending Crocker/Riverside Elementary in the heart of the Land Park community. The core group has been together since T-Ball, ages 4-5.

The Land Park and Pacific All-Star teams merged over the years, the programs established in the 1950s. Dooley Field has been home for decades. Charles “Charley” Schanz and Doc Oliver created Pacific Little League in 1954. By 1958, Lawrence “Dooley” Bertolani joined the efforts to build ball fields to give East Sacramento kids something to be proud of. The retired Sacramento firefighter would spend his afternoons grooming the fields, located a relay throw from his back yard.

Innocent version of baseball

The Land Park Pacific All-Stars have the feel of a local team, with coaches growing up in the region as well as the unsung parents who have worked tirelessly to make this all work, especially running the home games, organizing fundraisers and securing hotels on the road.

“They’re the heroes,” Zimmerman said of the parents. “They’ve canceled family vacations out of the country and made a lot of sacrifices to see this season through. It’s happening so fast that we can barely remember it all.”

Little League has an essence of purity and fun, not to be confused with travel-ball teams of the same age where the pressure can mount, and the same for the parental pressure on their kids.

Little League baseball has been tainted a bit over the decades by ineligible players, including at the World Series, where the occasional 16-year old disguises himself as a 12-year old, leading to forfeits.

“For every tournament, we have to have the right paperwork, affidavits to show where kids live, that they’re legit,” Zimmerman said. “That’s the biggest surprise to all of this to me, but we welcome it. It’s the necessary evil.”

He added, “I think Little League is a great thing. It’s a very innocent version of baseball compared to travel ball. We’re not stealing pitches. We’re not backing guys off the plate with pitches. It’s a different game. Here, we’ve got guys standing on first base, waiting for his buddy to get a hit so he can go as fast as he can around the bases.”

More than 350 Northern California Little League All-Star teams sought to come this far. Land Park Pacific won the District 7 and Section 4 tournaments before claiming the Northern California championship last weekend in steamy hot Madera. At one point, the Land Park Pacific All-Stars outscored their opponents 58-1. They now represent Sacramento and Northern California. Petaluma of Sonoma County is the last NorCal team to reach the Little League World Series, doing so in 2012.

Representing with power and poise

The Sacramento boys like the road trips, the restaurants, ice cream and pool fun at hotels. The games are the real treat, of course.

“We have a good time, but we’re also representing Sacramento, so we’re not doing anything crazy,” said Luke Wyatt, a slugger and pitcher whose father, Stefan, is one of the coaches.

Pat Chapman coaches third base, and his son, Ty, plays outfield. Ty is the only 11-year-old on the team.

Patrick Casella, a centerfielder, is the strongest kid on the team. The solid 5-foot-7 slugger prefers the old-school wood bat over the familiar ping of the metal bats most Little Leaguers use.

“The sound of the ball off his wood bat sounds great,” Zimmerman said. “I love it.”

Casella had a blast to cherish. He hammered a home run off the San Mateo ace in a NorCal semifinal for a 7-6 triumph over the favorites in Madera, where it was 108 degrees. In the title game, Land Park Pacific beat Napa American 7-4. Catcher Mason Ebe is a fine athlete who hasn’t missed a game or an inning, slugging through sauna-like games in catcher’s gear.

“He’s been outstanding,” Zimmerman said. “They’ve all been outstanding. ”

The coach added with a chuckle, “The 108 in Madera is worse than the 108 we have here, and there’s some moisture in the air with all the farms, so it was pretty wicked.”

Henry Hastings also homered in the tournament, the lanky 5-9 lad cruising around the bases. He does not play in the field. His role is to drive the ball from the plate.

“That can be hard on a kid when he doesn’t play the field,” Zimmerman said. “He’s handled it well, like a class act. It’s a great example of how to handle that sort of thing.”

Land Park Pacific features two superb pitchers. Dillon Chiuu throws with velocity and movement. He is quiet but is not lacking confidence.

The other pitcher of note is Wyatt, who also bats cleanup. His father urges him to hit line drives, so imagine their glee when the boy smashed a home run in a playoff game. Father and son may talk about this one for years.

Homer into the trees

“It was a towering shot to left field,” Zimmerman said. “It went into the trees and no one ever saw it again.”

Said Cool Hand Luke, “The day before, dad and I had a two-hour separate batting practice, and it paid off. It was my first homer in Little League. Really exciting. All the work has paid off for all of us.”

It’s not just the parents of the players soaking all of this in.

One of the most famous alums to come out of Land Park Pacific is Malcolm Moore, who turned heads with his power and cool as a 12-year old on those Dooley fields. Moore kept on swinging at McClatchy High School, earning Bee Player of the Year honors, and through two seasons at Stanford.

Moore was recently picked in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Texas Rangers. After receiving a $3 million signing bonus, Moore found time last week to send a video tribute to the All-Stars, posted on the team’s Facebook page, urging them to play hard and have fun.

Zimmerman’s father, Jeff, is a regular at Land Park Pacific games, just like he was when Zimmerman played Little League games at Dooley and later at McClatchy.

“He calls me at night with lineup suggestions,” Zimmerman said, laughing. “I ignore him.”

Land Park Pacific All-Stars

The lineup: Kasen Lim, Bryce Zimmerman, Mason Ebe, Patrick Casella, Luke Wyatt, Brandt Lopez, Dominic Grandinetti, Dillon Chiuu, Henry Hastings, Ty Chapman, Andrew Perez and Liam Musante.

The coaches: Jeff Zimmerman, Pat Chapman, Stefan Wyatt.

What’s next: vs. Hawaii

When: Sunday, 3 p.m.

On TV: ESPN+

At stake: The winner of the Western Regional advances to the Little League World Series.