Co-Workers Provide Lift for Cordero

Charlie Cordero simply couldn’t afford the cross-country trip to see his son play in the Little League World Series, so the tooling engineer went to work as usual this week.

But his boss told him to leave.

Cordero’s co-workers at Douglas Aircraft Corp. in Long Beach heard he couldn’t afford the trip to Williamsport, Pa., so they passed around a collection plate. He was given an airline ticket, a car rental voucher and spending money.

He made it to Williamsport in time to watch his son, Kerry, strike out 12 batters in Cypress’ 9-0 victory over Brooklyn, Mich., Tuesday.

“It’s really amazing,” Charlie Cordero, the team’s pitching coach, said after the game. “I was really disappointed I wasn’t going to be able to come here, but I didn’t want to show it.

“Then the boys came to my desk and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ ”

Several parents and boosters are in Williamsport to cheer on the No. 1 team from the West Region. Cypress is one victory away from Saturday’s championship game.

Cypress Coach Ron MacDonald, in a telephone interview Wednesday, described the fan support as loud.

“I think our following out here is about 100 people, but they sound like 1,000. We know where they are in the stands.