The Lightning Baseball Club was founded by Dave Dopf in the summer of 2012 as a 9U team out of Rancho Niguel Little League in Laguna Niguel.  The Lightning was formed when it became apparent that the more talented players in RNLL were being recruited by outside travel ball programs who did not support Little League.   Often times, those players would not return to play Little League. 

In essence, the Lightning was formed to provide an avenue for local players seeking a higher level of play, along with advanced coaching, as well as more practices and games per week during the fall and winter seasons.  At the same time, it would also be a program that would allow them to return to play Little League during the spring and summer with their friends/ classmates.    As a result,  this would help keep RNLL's more talented players in RNLL.  Additionally, it would help RNLL become more competitive in the regular season, interleague play, the post-season Tournament of Champions and in the District 55 All Star tournaments.

The impact was immediate as the following spring(2013), the RNLL Giants(Dopf), reached the District 55 TOC Championship game in the AAA division(ages 9,10 & 11) with a pitching staff made up entirely of 9U Lightning players.   That summer, there were six(6) nine year-old players selected to the RNLL 9/10 All-Star team(an RNLL record).  Five of those players were Lightning players.

In the fall of 2013 our 9U team moved up to 10U and an 11U team was added, managed by Greg Burnight.  In the spring of 2014, both of the RNLL Intermediate Dodgers(Burnight) and the RNLL AAA Giants(Dopf) were crowned District 55 TOC Champions.  In addition, the Intermediate 11's All Star team(Burnight) won the District 55 tournament while the 9/10 All Star team(Dopf) won the District 55 tournament, eventually advancing to the Section 10 championship game where they would lose to the eventual state champion, Ocean View Little League.    Both all star teams were filled with Lightning players.

Again in 2015, the Intermediate Dodgers(Burnight) won the Intermediate TOC Championship with seven 11 and 12 year-old Lightning players.

In the spring of 2016, District 55 began allowing 13 year-old players to play in the Intermediate Division.  RNLL did not.  Instead, they continued to only allow players who were "league age" 11 and 12.  Despite playing against teams with 13 year-olds, the RNLL Intermediate Yankees who rostered 6 Lightning players and were coached by two Lightning assistant coaches(Jason Elliott and Adam Bays) boasted an undefeated record through league play, Interleague and the RNLL playoffs only to lose to a 13 year-old team in the TOC tournament.

As the allure of playing All Stars in the Intermediate Division was now diminished due to the unlevel playing field of having to compete against 13 year-old players, the 12U Lightning elected to forego LL all stars and focus their efforts on their upcoming tournament in Cooperstown, New York.    Their hard work paid off as the 2016 Lightning finished 4th out of 47 teams at Cooperstown All Star Village.  From September 2015 thru the semifinal game at CASV, our 2016 Lightning went 59-22-2, winning multiple tournaments while also earning the distinction of being promoted from the AA to AAA division by USSSA(after earning the #1 power ranking in California in the AA division).

In August of 2016, the Lightning expanded from one 12U team to three teams(12U, 11U, and 10U).   Our 2016 Cooperstown team was disbanded with each player moving onto their respective HS feeder teams or they joined other club programs.   

Our 2017 12U Lightning squad finished their year with a 50-21-2 record and placed 3rd out of 49 teams at Cooperstown All Star Village.  Our 11U team finished their year with a 31-21-2 record while our 10U team finished with a 15-15 record.

In August 2017, the Lightning expanded again to carry four teams(13U, 12U, 11U, 9U).    Our 9U team competed in the CCYB Fall League and finished with a 7-7-1 record while our 11U team finished the year with a 25-17-2 record.  Meanwhile, our 12U Lightning finished the year with a 5th place finish in Cooperstown boasting a 56-20-3 record on the year and were crowned champions of the CCYB Spring League and also earning the distinction of being promoted from the AA to the AAA division by USSSA after going undefeated against our AA opponents  throughout the Fall.

Our 13U team capped off their year with a 3rd place finish at the Triple Crown World Series in Steamboat Springs, CO.  They finished the year with a 71-23-5 record, were crowned Champions of the Irvine PONY Select Spring season and CCYB Fall Champions with several tournament championships in between.  

In August of 2018, the Lightning expanded to seven(7) teams(14U, 13U, 12U, 11U, two 10U, and a 9U).  In 2019, we expanded again by adding a 16U/15U Fall team.        

Although it wasn't the original goal when the Lightning Baseball Club has formed, we have since developed into a program designed to get players prepared for high school.   From our 2016 Cooperstown team, 6 Lightning alumni entered HS in 2017 and five of them made their respective HS teams(San Clemente, Santa Margarita, Aliso Niguel, Dana Hills).  In 2018, there were 12 Lightning alumni entering HS and each of them were awarded spots on their respective HS teams(Laguna Beach, Laguna Hills, JSerra, Santa Margarita, Dana Hills, Aliso Niguel, San Clemente).  In 2019, every freshman from our 13U(2) and 14U(12) team made their HS squad.   

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