Needing to win two games to keep its dreams alive, the San Benito Babe Ruth 15-and-under team did just that on Thursday in the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament in Surprise, Ariz.
San Benito beat Sommerset of Arizona 6-5 in come-from-behind fashion before rolling to a 5-1 victory over Hawaii. San Benito plays Tri-Valley at 8 a.m. Friday for the right to advance to the championship round against undefeated Westchester on Saturday.
The winner of the championship round—Westchester must be beaten twice since it is the only undefeated team remaining—advances to the Babe Ruth World Series.
San Benito manager Dave Marquez couldn’t have been more proud of his players, most of whom he’s been coaching since they were 8 years old.
“It was neat to see how the kids have grown up,” Marquez said. “The kids were getting behind each other, fighting through the adversity and emotions and digging deep and leaving it on the field against Sommerset.”
Of that, there is no doubt. San Benito trailed 5-1 entering the top of the fifth inning before launching its comeback. Mason Marquez hit a two-run double to make it 5-3, and Ryan Jameson came on in relief in the bottom half and pitched superbly, tossing three shutout innings.
San Benito didn’t score in the sixth before it scored three times in the seventh, highlighted by run-scoring singles from Jameson and Tyler Triano and a RBI double from Marquez. In the bottom half of the inning, Jameson shut down Sommerset, capping the victory.
“Jameson is one of our hardest throwers, along with Triano,” Marquez said. “He’s a guy who can put a team on his back.”
Afterward, the players brought up their Little League All-Star days, when they were 10 playing in the state tournament and rallying for five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat a Petaluma team that two years later advanced to the Little League World Series as 12-year-olds.
“They talked about that game being one of their great memories, and this game ranked right up there,” Marquez said.
As exciting as the win was, San Benito had to comport themselves because it only had a 60-minute break before starting its next game against Hawaii. San Benito took control from the outset, scoring a run in the first off a Ryan Quimby single before adding single runs in the third and sixth and two more in the seventh to win going away.
In the seventh, Quimby and Jake Ito had run-scoring singles. Triano was dynamite, pitching a complete game. Marquez, Quimby and Josh Jennings have been spectacular, with Marquez being an energizer, Quimby producing clutch hits and being solid defensively.
