By TR Robertson
Maybe the San Diego Padres are not having a good season, but there is a local team in Vista that has just completed a great season and is an excellent representative for the City of Vista. The Rancho Buena Vista Little League AAA White Sox won their league and held the #1 seed. They won the City Tournament, going undefeated, and just won the Tournament of Champions, capturing the Minor League District 70 title, completing the season with a 25-2-1 record. The team is coached by manager Kenny Cox with assistants Sean Ricketts, Pat Chamock, Dave Wysocki, and team parent Shaanon Ricketts. Kenny has been coaching Little Leaguers since 2019. He has a son, Sonny, on the White Sox, and a son, Ari, playing on a Major team, which he assists with as well. He also assists on an All-Star team. The AAA is a division below Majors, mostly 9–11-year-olds. Majors’ teams have 11 and 12-year-olds on the team.
After the regular season ended, the White Sox played in the league tournament, a double-elimination tournament, which they won. They then took part in the city tournament, a single elimination tournament, playing teams from Rancho Buena Vista Little League, Vista American Little League and Bonsall Little League. They went undefeated and won the city tournament with a 9-2 score against the RBVLL Orioles.
The team finishes their season in the Minor League Tournament of Champions, a double elimination tournament playing the #1 seeded teams from Rancho Buena Vista, Oceanside, Bonsall, and Vista American. They opened play against a team from Oceanside National, whom they beat 4-2. On the following Sunday, they defeated the Bonsall Bananas 16-4. On Tuesday, they lost a close game against a team of mostly 11-year-olds, the Oceanside American Kings, 4-2. The team bounced back on Wednesday, defeating a team from Oceanside Valley, setting up another game against Oceanside American on Thursday, whom they beat in extra innings, 6-3. This set up the 2026 District 70 Minor League AAA Tournament of Champions final against the Oceanside American Kings on Friday. The White Sox defeated the Kings 4-2 to win the Minor League District 70 Tournament of Champions.
Kenny is married to his wife, Claire, whom he started dating in high school in 2006 and married in 2012. He has lived in Vista since he was 7 years old. They have four children, Sonny, Ari, Danny and June. Danny explained his love for coaching – “The AAA division is the best division in Little League in my opinion. It’s real baseball but still has a lot of pure innocence. A lot of teaching is required, which I love. I’m very passionate about coaching youth sports; I also coach basketball. I love helping kids improve, get better, get more confident, and love the game more than they did at the start of the season. I love that at this level, you see a lot of good baseball but can also see some randomness. For example, a grounder to third could be an out, or it could end up getting thrown over the first baseman’s head, end up in right field, and the runner could get to third base. It’s real baseball, but still so pure and innocent; I love it. I love teaching the boys how to play the game. Most of them are coming from the AA division, which is using a pitching machine, so it’s a big change and a lot of teaching is required, which is why I love this level so much.”
The day after winning the District 70 Tournament of Champions Kenny added the following about his team and the season; “I love these kids so much. I’m so proud of each and every one of them. We played 6 games in 7 days to win the Tournament of Champions. We pitched 9 different kids in the tournament, and I repeatedly asked these boys to step up, and they kept coming through over and over again. These boys are tough, resilient, and such great kids. It was a pleasure to spend time with them and coach them and get to know each of them – I will truly miss coaching these boys. I had so much fun this season.”
The White Sox Players and positions – Sonny Cox (1B,3B,P), Elias Lopez (2B), Nicholas Reynolds (SS,P), Ryan Charnock (P,1B), Milo Jones (3B,OF), Landyn Hazim (CF,1B,P), Forrest Ricketts (RF,P), Lucas Rosemann (CF), Trevor Peterson (C), Bodhi Wysocki (OF), Liam Gomez (OF), Hugh Pendergrass (LF).
Congratulations to everyone associated with the Rancho Buena Vista White Sox AAA Little League Team on a tremendous season. As Hall of Famer Bob Feller said, “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
