Memories of the Little League World Series Can Last a Lifetime : Baseball: Each athlete enjoyed the exposure and a few pranks while in Williamsport, Pa.

Aron Garcia’s Little League memories range from pranks to pressure.

The morning of the Little League World Series title game in 1987, Garcia and his Northwood Little League teammates were greeted by a pair of underwear dangling outside their compound.

“I saw [teammate] Steve Mendoza throw them into the tree the night before,” said Garcia, now an assistant baseball and football coach at Irvine High. “We walked out . . . and everyone was laughing. They were just dangling from the tree.”

Relaxed and ready to play, the Irvine team then walked down the hill to the stadium for the biggest game of their lives. They found 35,000 fans waiting--and watching their every move.

“I went to warm up in the bullpen and there were 300 to 400 people watching me throw every pitch,” said Garcia, the team’s starting pitcher in the final. “It was then I got a little nervous.”

Northwood lost to Taiwan, 21-1, but returned home to a heroes’ welcome. Such is the emotional range of the Little League World Series.

Garcia and his former teammates know what the Yorba Hills Little League team is learning this week. Yorba Hills is the third Orange County team since 1987 to reach Williamsport, joining Northwood (1987) and Cypress (1990). Former players have learned to savor the memories, and most of the recollections are fond.

“It’s like going to summer camp,” said former Irvine player Ryan Jones, now in the Toronto Blue Jays’ organization. “You’re with all your friends and your parents aren’t around. You sleep on little cots and have pillow fights. There are cockroaches all over the place and I’ve never seen so many green trees.”

In that setting, amid a carnival atmosphere, a little baseball still gets played. The players leave it to others to attach the significance.

In 1990, Cypress reached the U.S. final, losing to Shippensburg, Pa., 5-4. Cypress had endured two days of rain, then had to play the local favorite.

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With most of the approximately 25,000 fans rooting against them, Cypress had the tying run on third with no outs in the last inning. Joe Katchka bunted and was thrown out. Eddie Zamora tried to score from third and also was thrown out.

“I remember going over to our parents after the game and all of them hugging us,” said Bobby Brito, now a senior at Cypress High School. “I kept thinking, ‘If I did this different, maybe we would have won.’ It’s easier to look back now. You realize it is something very few kids will ever get to do.”

To get there, Cypress and Irvine won a series of tournaments leading to the regional. As with Yorba Hills, Cypress and Irvine were whisked away to Williamsport the morning after winning the regional championship game.

There was little time for planning.

“We won and the next thing you knew the kids are off to Williamsport,” said Bill Slevcove, whose son, Mark, played for Cypress. “They didn’t even get to come home. Your concerns are simple. You just want to get them some clean laundry for another week on the road.”

Players were sequestered in a compound and assigned two “uncles” to tend to their needs. They interacted with other players, played Ping-Pong, Frisbee and traded pins.

But they remained behind a fence except when playing games or practicing.

“We couldn’t go outside,” Brito said. “We were told to stay away from the press. We were in bunkers, which is what we called them. The bathrooms were on the other side of the compound. But we had a great time.”

With plenty of memories.

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“The funniest thing was watching the Taiwan kids shave,” said Mark Slevcove, now a senior at Cypress. “They were 12 years old and shaving, honest.”

Slevcove was in the cafeteria, the day before Cypress played its first game. It then sunk in where he was and what he and his teammates were doing.

“ESPN was showing the first game of the Little League World Series,” Slevcove said. “I thought, ‘We’re big time.’ ”

The World Series was a starting point for some, a high point for others.

Jones was a second-round pick by the Blue Jays in 1993 and is moving up rapidly in the organization. He is hitting .257 with 15 home runs and 66 runs batted in for Dunedin, Fla., a Class A team.

He was part of two successful Irvine High teams, the core of which had played for Northwood. The Vaqueros reached the 1992 Southern Section Division II championship game and the Division III semifinals the following season.

Brito is considered one of the county’s top baseball prospects. He is a three-year letterman and finished tied for the county lead with 12 home runs last season.

Then there’s Zamora, who hit two home runs in Cypress’ first Little League World Series game--a 9-0 victory over Brooklyn, Mich. He played briefly at Cypress High, then apparently vanished.

“I saw him at graduation last year and he was holding a kid,” Slevcove said. “He just disappeared.”

Three players moved away, and a couple went to different high schools. Others just stopped playing.

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Slevcove, a senior at Cypress, was one who gave up baseball. He said it’s still his favorite sport, but he was burned out. Instead, he competes in water polo, basketball and swimming for the Centurions.

Of the Cypress Little League team, only Brito and Mark Shelton play baseball at Cypress High.

“We saw how well the Irvine players did in high school and we thought we’d be as successful,” Slevcove said. “You think you’re going to be together forever, but that doesn’t always work out.”

Sometimes it does.

Garcia was the most famous player from the Northwood team, which meant he had the most to live up to.

Although he didn’t pitch for the Irvine varsity, he was a starter both seasons. He also won two section titles in football, and was the starting quarterback his senior year.

Like his Northwood teammates, Garcia tried to downplay the Little League experience while in high school. Now Garcia enjoys the memories.

“I received mail and phone calls from all over the country,” Garcia said. “We went to a couple elementary schools and talked about our experiences. There were newspaper articles written about me all over the United States. I realized then how serious it was to play in the Little League World Series.

“But what I remember, is being with my friends. It was like a vacation. We were playing baseball and having fun. What I’ll always remember is the underwear incident.”