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d GV senior recalls World Series experience

Four years have passed since Justin Gentile pitched in the Little League World Series championship game. But the 16-year-old Green Valley High senior remembers it like it was yesterday.

What he remembers most is not the heartache of his Northridge, Calif., team loss in the 1994 title game to Latin America, but the overwhelming pride of accomplishing a seemingly unreachable dream at the age of 12.

"I remember it as one of the most exciting moments of my life," Gentile said as Toms River, N.J., and Greenville, N.C., were squaring off Thursday afternoon in the U.S. pool final.

"Playing in the World Series was one of my dreams when I was growing up and it was unbelievable when it happened. Looking back on it, I can't believe we made it that far."

Northridge's run through the state and regional qualifiers, and its subsequent march through the 48th annual Little League World Series, gained immense national attention for two reasons. Major League Baseball players were on strike that summer and the Little League World Series was the only televised baseball the last week in August.

Northridge also was the epicenter of a devastating earthquake just seven months earlier. The team's run to the World Series helped galvanize a shattered community and made for great copy in newspapers, magazines and on the nightly news.

"It was really a remarkable story," Gentile recalled. "With the quake and the strike in baseball, it was a pretty big deal."

Despite a crowd of nearly 50,000 and a national television audience, Gentile managed to battle an extreme case of pre-game jitters and held the Latin American team scoreless for the first two innings.

"At first, of course I was nervous with that many people watching," Gentile said. "After my first inning, I settled down."

That is, until the rain came. After a 3 1/2-half hour rain delay, Gentile said he lost his control and, after being tied 2-2 after four innings, Northridge fell behind 4-2 in the fifth and eventually lost 4-3 in six innings.

"I had my stuff early," Gentile said of the title game. "After that long delay, my control went away a little bit and I made a few mistakes here and there."

Gentile, who no longer pitches but plays third base and designated hitter for Green Valley's state championship team, remembers hitting eight home runs that season and pitching two games in the World Series. Other than that, he said he doesn't remember his statistics from that magical season.

But it was an experience he said he never will forget.

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