City championship, Little League memories passed from generation to generation

BARSTOW • For now, they use short, one-word answers.

Their wide grins say more about the coming Barstow City Championship game than they do.

This will likely change in the years to come.

Just ask their coaches who have been there before. They can speak in specific details about everything from the smell of grass to the emotions and memories of playing Little League.

Four teams in two age divisions will take to Lillian Park battling for a City Championship and bragging rights in Barstow tonight. In the 9- and 10-year-old division, the West Barstow Angels will faces the East Barstow Tigers at 5 p.m. The West Barstow Indians will face the East Barstow Angels in the 11- and 12-year-old division at 7 p.m.

“What I want to do is build memories for the kids,” said Paul Wilkey, West Barstow Angels coach.

Wilkey grew up in Murrieta and played on a team that made a postseason run during his Little League years.

“I actually remember just having a great time, enjoying the smell of cut grass with summer in the air,” Wilkey said. “I was fortunate to be on a good team. We were fortunate to do good things for a small town back then.”

For others, City Championships and Little League is passed down from generation to generation in Barstow.

Rudy Zamora, who coaches the East Barstow Angels, played in and won the very first City Championship game in 1970. His East Barstow Cardinals beat the West Barstow Giants 3-2 that year. Zamora’s son Andrew plays on the East Barstow Angels. Andrew is carrying on a long-standing family tradition.

Andrew’s cousin Marcus Zamora is an assistant coach with the team. He played in four City Championships in the mid-’90s and won one.
“We come from a strong baseball family,” Marcus said. “Baseball runs in our blood. When I learned to walk, this is what I knew I wanted to do.”

Some of the coaches have even grown up playing against each other.  Larry Madero, who’s 11- and 12-year-old West Barstow Braves team played in the second place game on Thursday, said he remembers playing against West Barstow Indians coach Paul Haefele in Little League.

“It’s like a family town so it just rotates,” Madero said. “A lot of dads I played against are coaching now.”

When Marcus Zamora speaks about his City Championship experience, he recalls even the most minute details while his cousin Andrew and Angels teammate Alfredo Lopez gave a series of “yes” and “no” answers talking about tonight’s game.

They’ll have more to say in the years to come.