For Canyon View Little League, the road to Williamsport, Pennsylvania first goes through San Bernadino, California.
The road sign is actually up on their practice field at Mehl Park, as it was a gift from Continental Little League for recently winning the Arizona state title, Canyon View’s first in 36 years.
“It’s a dream to take the kids from beginning of All-Stars to be able to win a state title,” said head coach Zak Anderson.
Canyon View is led by the leadership skills of Easton Altherr and the bat of Lukas Gerlach.
“Lukas is just a competitor,” said Anderson. “He gets up to the plate and he has a game changing bat.”
That bat will be important because now Canyon View has a first round game against Hawaii, the defending Little League World Series Champions. This year’s representative, Pearl City, comes from a different Hawaiian district, but the state is a perennial power when it comes to little league.
“Obviously, they’ve got a great history of competing in this tournament,” said Anderson. “We’re going to go at them with our best and expect them to do the same.”
“We just keep getting to travel, and keep getting to play longer and longer, ” said Gerlach. “This is our last year, so we’ve got to make it worth it.”