Youth Sports Report:

Palma Ceia Juniors Keeping Eyes On The Present

Posted Jul 12, 2008 by Nick Murray

Updated Jul 12, 2008 at 05:52 PM

When Palma Ceia Little League Junior baseball manager Scott Linabury was looking around in the league’s clubhouse recently, he made a discovery.

Around two dozen balls from the 2004 Junior League World Series, won by his team’s predecessors.

“I took one,” Linabury said, “and I used it as a motivator to the guys to show them ‘you know, this is what we’re striving for, this is what we need to focus on.’ ”

But while that remains the overall goal for Linabury’s team, which won the District 6 title with a 9-2 win against Northside Little League on Thursday night, the plan on how to get there will always be the same: one game at a time.

“One game at a time,” Linabury said. “Of course, my expectations are to go the whole way, which I think we possible can, but you can’t do it until you win that next game. So our focus as a team, and that’s how we play, as a team, is to take it one game at a time.”

This year’s Palma Ceia team retains a core of five players who have played together since they were in the under-10 division in 2003. Tanner Anderson, Tyler Linabury, Clark Russo, Matt Sanders and Pete Cordero were on the team then, and have grown with the team through All-Star seasons since. Scott Linabury credits that continuity and the abilities of the entire squad as a reason for the team’s optimism entering sectional play.

“I think that we can play with any team out there,” Linabury said. “I have great expectations of this team with the caliber of player that we have on it. I think that we can go a long way.”