LAGUNA NIGUEL : After 15 Seasons, Team Is In Tourney

A group of 14-year-old boys is thrilling the community as their Laguna Niguel Pony League baseball all-star team has advanced to the sectional tournament for the first time in the league’s 15 years.

In the district championships, the Laguna Niguel team skunked three opposing teams, each by 10 runs. Umpires operating under the “mercy rule,” which keeps losing teams from becoming totally demoralized, ended each game after five innings, not the regulation seven, because of Laguna Niguel’s huge leads.

“Finally we’ve done something to put Laguna Niguel on the map,” said manager Tom Grzecka, who chalked up the team’s success to pitching depth, “timely” doubles from John Dabbs and John Cappeletti, and a grand slam from his own son, Casey. “Nobody’s ever really talked about us much. But this time the boys have done really well.”

Baseball fever has been especially strong here because the team’s victories over the Saddleback, Lake Forest and Newport-East Pony all-stars have all come on Laguna Niguel’s own newly improved Chapparosa Park baseball diamonds.

In February, the city completed $1.3 million in improvements to the Chapparosa Park complex, which now sports towering backstops, lights, regulation-size fields and more parking.

With the upgrade, Laguna Niguel Pony could finally host the district championships for the first time this year. Hundreds of spectators packed the bleachers and lined the fences for the Pony League games, as well as the Little League Majors district tournament, which Laguna Niguel also hosted.

The 14-year-old players gathered at Chapparosa Park Wednesday night for a final two hours of batting practice. They stroked line drives off fastballs served up by manager Grzecka, who was wisely pitching from behind a protective screen.

They begin play today in the Southern California Section 1 tournament at Whittier’s York Field. At 5 p.m. the team will meet the all-stars from Garden Grove.

But these 15 high school baseball prospects--and their parents--aren’t letting the string of victories swell their heads.

Said Jim Thompson as he watched his son, Jeff, at Wednesday’s practice: “It’s like what the coach on the ‘Coach’ TV program said. ‘You can be the best team out there and not get any of the breaks. Or you can be the best team and things go your way. You just have to sit back and enjoy it.’ ”