Aliso Viejo Little League manager Rob Sabol was not surprised to see the Conejo Valley East Little League all-star team as his team arrived at the 2004 Southern California Divisional tournament in Long Beach.

"We knew a lot about them coming in," said the veteran Little League manager. "Two years ago as ten-year-olds, they knocked us out of the (Southern California) championships and into fourth place." Conejo Valley went on to defeat Yorba Linda's Yorba Hills Little League 5-4 in that tournament's championship game.

Two years later, eight players from that championship team returned as members of the 2004 Conejo Valley East Little League all-star team, along with a handful of new players.

John Lister was one of the newcomers. So was Cody Thompson. Derrick Francis was another.

The strong had gotten stronger.

Thompson pitched his team into the championship game with a complete game four-hitter in the winner's bracket finals, then Lister drove in five runs with a pair of home runs and Francis added a homer and triple as Conejo Valley East pounded Aliso Viejo 13-3 in five innings in the Southern California championship game at Stearns Champions Park.

"We are kind of in awe right now," said Conejo Valley East manager Tom Ginther after the victory. "All of these guys are floating about a foot off the ground."

Conejo Valley East was soon to reach even greater heights: the Thousand Oaks-based league went on to defeat Lamar National Little League (Richmond, Texas) in the United States championship game, and eventually finished as the Little League World Series runner-up.

Conejo Valley East built a quick 2-0 lead in the Southern California championship game, when Lister and Danny Leon delivered RBI hits. The next inning, the District 13 champions put the game away. Aliso Viejo was one strike away from retiring the side when leadoff hitter Timmy Ginther walked to put runners on first and second base. Leon then drove a pitch over the center field fence for a three-run homer to extend Conejo Valley's lead to 5-0. After three Conejo Valley hitters drew walks, Lister drilled a grand-slam to extend the lead. Francis added a pinch homer later in the inning.

The big early lead was a welcome site to starting pitcher Jordan Brower. The right-hander, who received no decision despite throwing six shutout innings against San Diego's Luckie Waller Little League earlier in the tournament, scattered five hits and struck out nine batters in five innings of work.

"Brower kept us off-balance," said Sabol after the game. "He didn't throw real hard but he mixed his pitches . . . That was as bad as our hitters looked all year."

Chris Paul's two-run homer in the fourth inning helped Aliso Viejo narrow Conejo Valley's lead to 10-3, but Lister hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the inning and the Thousand Oaks club added two runs in the bottom of the fifth to end the game early.

Conejo Valley East, which outscored seven opponents by a 57-4 margin in district and sectional tournament games, continued to receive strong pitching throughout the divisional tournament. Thompson struck out nine and allowed only one hit in five innings as Conejo Valley East opened the tournament with an 8-0 win over Poway American. Thompson and Lister started the scoring with back-to-back solo home runs in the second inning, and Conejo Valley added six runs in the fourth. Timmy Ginther and Leon delivered RBI singles to key the rally.

The next day, Brower and Luckie Waller pitcher Augustin Lopez battled in a game that remained scoreless into extra innings. Brower struck out seven batters and did not walk a batter in six innings of work, while Lopez scattered five hits over five innings. Conejo Valley East finally broke the deadlock in the top of the eighth inning, pushing across the game's only runs for a 2-0 victory.

Leon, who earned the victory with two hitless innings in relief of Brower, led off the deciding eighth inning with a double and eventually scored the first run on a wild pitch. Sean McIntyre also singled and scored in the inning.

The win advanced Conejo Valley East into a matchup with San Pedro Eastview Little League, which overpowered Glendora American Little League 13-1 before downing Aliso Viejo in an inter-family matchup. Eastview manager Ron Galosic and Aliso Viejo coach Joe Galosic are brothers, and each had sons on their teams. Ron and Ronnie Galosic's team prevailed over Joe and Joey Galosic's club by an 8-4 margin to gain the winner's bracket finals.

Once there, Eastview was unable to solve Thompson, who struck out six in Conejo Valley East's 8-1 win.

The effort earned Thompson his sixth victory of the international tournament. The tall right-hander allowed only four earned runs in 27 innings pitched during Southern California tournament play, surrendering just 15 hits while striking out 45 batters.

"(Thompson has) developed into the ace of the staff," said Tom Ginther. "He has done a tremendous job on the hill for us."

McIntyre paced the offense against Eastview with two hits and a pair of RBIs, while Leon extended his hitting streak to ten games with a single, double, and an RBI.

San Pedro's Ryan Stanovich snapped Conejo Valley's string of 23 consecutive scoreless innings with a sixth inning home run.

The next day, Stanovich struck again, driving a two-run homer in the third to give his club an early 2-0 edge in a rematch with Aliso Viejo. But Mike Rafferty delivered a pair of RBI singles to knot the score, and Stefan Sabol's bases-loaded singled up the middle in the bottom of the sixth moved Aliso Viejo into the championship game.

Aliso Viejo pitcher Brian Carcerano allowed only four hits, and struck out ten batters in his first extended outing of the international tournament.

"Brian had only pitched one inning in the whole tournament," said Rob Sabol. "(He) came out here and threw six innings against a very good hitting ball club.

"He kept us in it, and our bats came alive when they needed to."

The next evening, Brower quieted the Aliso Viejo bats, while Conejo Valley East's second inning power surge gave the league a bookend to its 2002 crown in the 9-10 year old division. Conejo Valley's win in that tournament also came at Stearns Champions Park.

"Long Beach has been good to us," said Tom Ginther.

For Rob Sabol, Conejo Valley East was as talented as expected.

"I think they can get to Williamsport, or at least that is what I hope," said the Aliso Viejo manager. "They have the talent. They've got the big pitchers. They've got great hitters there."

Two weeks later, after an 8-5 win over Green Valley Little League (Henderson, Nevada) in the West Region championship game, Conejo Valley East was on their way.

Flying, with or without an airplane, en route to South Williamsport.