Second Chance for Van Nuys : Babe Ruth League: Team seeks World Series title in Louisiana after disappointing loss in a national competition last year.

An elusive quarry, left agonizingly out of reach a year ago in the rolling hills of Washington, Pa., has drawn Steve Chavez and several pals to the backwater bayou country of Houma, La.

“We are going there for a reason,” Chavez said. “Not many people have the chance like this in their lifetime, a second chance.”

Houma is the site of the Babe Ruth League World Series, which begins today. Chavez plays catcher for Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks, the Southern Pacific region representative.

For Chavez and seven teammates, this tournament provides a means of erasing the disappointment of losing to Korea last year in the Pony League World Series final. The eight were members of the Encino Pony team.

“We made an agreement to come back and play together this year,” second baseman Julio Marcial said.

For several players, competing in Babe Ruth--a league for 14- and 15-year-olds--meant stepping down from high school varsity and American Legion competition. Chavez started for Poly High and the Sun Valley Legion team before joining Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks. Marcial started for Cleveland High and the Granada Hills Legion team. Both will be high school juniors in the fall.

“We’ve spent the whole year playing older people, more experienced people,” Marcial said. “Now we have the edge.”

Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks also has the only woman coach in the tournament, Cindy Kramer. Chuck Martin is the manager and Jody Breeden is another coach.

The team (14-2) emerged from the losers’ bracket to win the regional and state tournaments the past two weeks. In the regional, the team lost to Carson City, Nev., in the opener and rolled off six victories in five days--including two wins over Carson City--to take the championship.

“This is our year, I can tell because we’ve proven we can come back from anything,” Marcial said.

Other Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks players from the Encino Pony team include first baseman Francisco Flores, shortstop Ryan Stromsborg, third baseman Justin Paperny and outfielders Cesar Martinez, Glen Carson and Jesus Perez. Pitchers Darren Firestone, Jimmy Lemos and Justin Salazar are new to the group, as are Pedro Castellanos, Oscar Gonzalez and Cesar Hernandez.

The team left for Houma on Thursday for the nine-team, double-elimination tournament. Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks drew a first-round bye and begins play Sunday at 5:30 p.m. against the winner of today’s game between Houma and Ewing, N.J.

“Maybe some other teams will be happy just to be at the World Series,” Chavez said. “We’re going there to win.”