Team Player

Zach Dwight, 12, is a second baseman in Woodland Hills Sunrise Little League who wears braces and loves baseball, algebra and pasta.

He may sound like an ordinary kid, but the Calabasas eighth-grader has achieved something extraordinary: He won Little League baseball’s national Good Sport of the Year award.

Of the 2 million children who play Little League baseball in the United States, close to 1,000 were nominated for the award. Zach was chosen because of his contributions on and off the field, namely raising money to help an inner-city youth baseball team buy uniforms and equipment, officials said.

“He is a role model for his peers,” said Rich Sperber, president of Sunrise Little League.

Last year, Zach, who attends A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, heard about a team in Watts that needed uniforms and equipment. So he and his best friend, Aaron Sapiro, 12, of Hidden Hills, who plays for the Westhills Pony League, set up booths at their respective league fields seeking $1 donations to support the City Camp Rockies.

The Rockies players, who range in age from 9-14, live at the Nickerson Gardens housing project and play their games at Ted Watkins Park, 103rd Street and Central Avenue.

“It’s probably the toughest park in the city, bordering the Crips and Bloods,” said Michael Goldberg, City Camp Rockies team manager.

After several weeks of personal appeals, Zach and Aaron raised $750.

The money paid for registration fees, uniforms, new gloves and time in batting cages. Goldberg, a film writer and director who raises money for the team through his own sources, said he appreciated the interest Zach and Aaron took in his South-Central Los Angeles team.

The two boys visited the City Camp Rockies at Ted Watkins Park one afternoon and served as first- and third-base coaches.

“The fact Zach and Aaron literally drove to a neighborhood they had never been to in their lives--they got an amazing lesson,” Goldberg said. “It’s a great thing the kids are being acknowledged for the wonderful thing they did.”

Sperber asked final-year players to describe their Little League experiences in an essay. In “My Last Sunrise Season,” Zach wrote: “I learned that it’s very easy to take equipment, a maintained field to play on and a clean snack shack for granted. These boys shared their equipment, raked their own fields and had to wait till they got home for their snacks.”

Little League baseball will fly Zach and his family to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., next month to present him with the award.

“He has the greatest attitude toward anything,” said Jason Kort, an El Camino Real High School baseball player who has known Zach for several years.

“I’d take 12 of him on my team,” said Tom Cassidy, a Woodland Hills coach.

Zach’s father, Marty Dwight, is coaching his son for the final time in the District 40 all-star tournament that began Monday.

“We’re very proud,” Dwight said. “Sunrise has meant everything to our family the last seven years. He’s learned a lot about baseball and life.”