San Benito Babe Ruth hits its way into state tournament
When the 2007 Central California State Qualifier Tournament for
the 13-year old All-Star teams began in Hollister last week,
opponents did not realize they were going to be attending a
one-week hitting clinic.
San Benito Babe Ruth hits its way into state tournament
When the 2007 Central California State Qualifier Tournament for the 13-year old All-Star teams began in Hollister last week, opponents did not realize they were going to be attending a one-week hitting clinic.
The 13-year old San Benito Babe Ruth All-Star team put on a demonstration like no other at the tournament, scoring a combined 65 runs in just four games.
The all-stars from Hollister opened the tournament against Lodi, shutting them out 10-0. They followed that game with a 17-1 trouncing of the all-stars from Tracy. With a victory over Manteca by a score of 14-2, they earned a bye until the winner from the loser’s bracket was determined. Manteca prevailed out of the loser’s bracket and earned a rematch with San Benito. However, San Benito followed their first victory over Manteca with a 24-0 beat down to win the state qualifying tournament July 5.
San Benito scored at least four runs every inning and every player in the starting lineup reached base at least once with a hit against Manteca in the championship. The team pitching was well-rounded throughout the competition as they only allowed three runs in the entire tournament.
Head coach Joe Ocampo and coach Mike Salgado said they were impressed with the team’s ability to hit and the way the kids came together.
“These kids love to hit. They are very aggressive, and they can adjust to pitching very well,” Ocampo said. “Any player from 1 to 9 in the lineup can hurt you at anytime. The whole team loves to hit.”
When asked if any one player should be given credit for the teams’ hitting prowess, players said it was a team effort. Matt Vallejo played centerfield and led off for San Benito through most of the tournament.
“This is more like a team thing. We all work hard out there together,” Vallejo said. “We are all just being patient at the plate and focusing on the pitch.”
Vallejo went 3 for 4 with a walk and scored three runs for the team during the championship game.
Anthony Ocampo, the son of the head coach, also played in the championship game and went 2-2 with two walks and two runs batted in.
“It feels really good to score that many runs in a game,” Anthony said. “We were all just seeing the ball real well.”
The team only had one week’s worth of practice before the tournament began and Ocampo was very impressed with how well prepared they were.
During practice leading up to the state tournament, the team focused primarily on defense because Ocampo said they spent a lot of time at the plate with all of the games being shortened by the 10-run rule – when a team is up by more than 10 runs in after the fifth inning, the umpires are forced to call the game.
The team has been practicing all week in preparation for the Central State Tournament in Arroyo Grande. It begins Saturday, July 14 with a game at noon. Ocampo and the team have realized the competition will be much tougher. Because of that, Ocampo wanted to make sure his team was as well prepared on defense as they already were on offense.
“The hitting is on them. All I can do is just prepare them for the task ahead. We are going to face much better teams and in order to advance, we have to work hard,” Ocampo said. “They know what the task is and what I expect and that is to give me 110 percent out here.”
