Boys of summer made dreams become reality

When the Ocean View Little League All-Stars defeated Japan to emerge as 2011’s world champions, they ended their season in dramatic fashion.

Except that it wasn’t the end of their season — not quite, anyway.

The All-Stars, the first Orange County team to win the Little League Baseball World Series, are now busy making the publicity rounds. Saturday, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim honored the team in a pregame ceremony, and the Los Angeles Dodgers plan to do the same Sept. 22. Tuesday, the team paid a visit to Sacramento, where legislators honored them on the Senate and Assembly floors.

And this Saturday, Huntington Beach will pay tribute to its homegrown stars with a parade through downtown. Mayor Joe Carchio, who came up with the idea, said he couldn’t remember another victory parade in his years in Surf City.

“As long as I’ve been here, I think this is the first one,” he said. “I don’t know that we’ve ever had an accomplishment by a group of young boys that was as significant as this is to warrant a parade. What they’ve accomplished is phenomenal.”

The parade will start at 3 p.m. at Acacia Avenue and Main Street and head on Main toward Pacific Coast Highway before ending with a ceremony at Pier Plaza. Main will be closed to traffic between Acacia and PCH from about 2 to 4 p.m., Special Events Coordinator Chris Cole said.

In addition, a pre-parade fundraising party will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of the Huntington Beach Art Center at 538 Main St., with local vendors providing food. All proceeds will go to Ocean View Little League.

State Sen. Tom Harman (R-Costa Mesa) and Assemblyman Jim Silva (R-Huntington Beach) joined other legislators in presenting the team with a pair of resolutions Tuesday. The team met Gov. Jerry Brown later in the day.

“These boys played their hearts out at the Little League World Series,” Harman said in a release. “They were amazing and deserve all the recognition in the world. Pretty much everyone in Huntington Beach was following the series, and I am just thrilled to have them here today.”

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Twitter: @MichaelMillerHB