13-Year-Old Ballplayers Seek the Big Time : Thousand Oaks: The all-stars will compete tonight for a spot in the Little League World Series. The city rallies behind them. Younger team could win state title.

Pennant fever is building, and the lapel pins and avocados await--stacked on hopes that the Thousand Oaks all-stars will win a slot tonight in the Little League World Series.

Thousand Oaks officials donated the city-logo pins and a Port Hueneme food supplier offered the fruit as a symbol of support for a team that has gone farther than ever before toward the coveted Little League world championship.

If Thousand Oaks’ 13-year-olds win tonight at the Western Regional game in San Jose, they will pass the gifts on in a traditional goodwill offering to their opponents in the eight-team series at Taylor, Mich., said team adviser Bill Hirsh.

“Everybody’s very excited,” said Hirsh, manager of the West Oaks Baseball Club, a year-round Conejo Valley league that has put the 12-member all-star team through intensive training for the series.

“This is like a culmination for us,” Hirsh said. “We’re really starting to get a thoroughbred strain of ballplayers in Thousand Oaks. And it’s a credit to the coaching, because these kids are getting better and better, and it’s a credit to the community because they’re giving the teams the support they need to advance.”

City merchants have donated money, equipment and uniforms to the Thousand Oaks Little League teams, helping to pay for coaching clinics, pitching coaches and off-season training that have turned the 13-year-old team into “a well-oiled machine,” Hirsh said.

The team’s success has made the city proud, said City Councilwoman Elois Zeanah, whom Hirsh called one of the league’s strongest supporters.

“I’m just excited about their success and about this trip,” Zeanah said. “It’s one more example of the excellent youth programs we have because of our adult leaders and youth interest.”

Frank Whealon, the Thousand Oaks Little League’s head umpire, praised the city for its support of the team. “As I go through the community, the talk is that people are very excited,” Whealon said. “It’s the first time in our history that we’ve done this--hopefully gone to a world series.”

The 9- to 10-year-old all-stars team also stands to win a championship--the state title--if its players beat Lakewood in another game tonight. Thousand Oaks beat Lakewood 6-4 last week, but lost 5-1 Tuesday night.

So what are the 13-year-olds’ chances?

As 12-year-olds last year, many of the players on this team beat Long Beach, the two-time world champions.

Tuesday night’s extra-innings 5-4 win over Stockton was a squeaker, but the team pulled out the win.

Tonight, they will play the winner of Wednesday’s game between teams from Stockton, Calif., and Pearl City, Hawaii--teams the boys from Thousand Oaks have already beaten.

And if they win that one, they will become one team among eight in their age group that have survived worldwide play among 7,200 teams competing to make the Little League World Series.

The boys are not nervous, manager Ed Kitchen said Wednesday.

‘They’re just intense, and they just want to win. They’ve got a lot of heart,” Kitchen said.

The players have been training with Mark Davis, a professional pitching coach who once hurled in the minors for the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals, Kitchen said.

They also have been playing in the off-season, going up against more seasoned 14- and 15-year-olds in winter games to hone their skills.

Thousand Oaks residents and team sponsors are rooting hard, predicting the boys could play their way to the world title after a full year of training.

“They stand a chance to go all the way,” said Matt Goldfield, owner of Big League Stuff Sporting Goods in Thousand Oaks. “I know a few of them, and they can really play ball.”

Store customers have been buzzing about the team’s chances, he said.

“They’re really excited. It’s like the farthest the Thousand Oaks team has ever gone,” Goldfield said. “Some of the coaches at Thousand Oaks High School and Westlake High School are drooling over these kids--they can’t wait till they play on the high school teams.”

For 10 years, Manny Ashoori has been serving postgame pizzas to Little Leaguers at the Round Table restaurant he manages in Thousand Oaks.

“All of us are excited about the Little League team. Every year they try, and I hope this year they can get it,” Ashoori said. “They worked very hard, and they deserve a championship.”