San Benito Babe Ruth 14s win once, but ousted early from Pacific
Southwest region tournament
Sacramento – It wasn’t the ending they were looking for, but that didn’t take away from their accomplishments at all. After an undefeated run through their first two postseason tournaments, the San Benito Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Stars entered the Pacific Southwest region tournament brimming with confidence, but had to settle for one win and an early ouster in Sacramento.
“When you get to this level of baseball,” San Benito assistant coach Dave Zozaya said, “you have a brief opportunity in front of you and you have to take advantage of it. Before you know it, it’s gone.”
Vallan Shaw-Fuss said his team’s postseason run deserved an ‘A’ grade “because of how hard we worked to get there.” The player continued: “I thought (the region tournament) was cool because even if we didn’t win, it was still a different experience.”
San Benito dropped a close opening game on Friday night, falling 4-2 to Santa Rosa, forcing the All-Stars to the losers’ bracket for the first time. The team showed its resilience by responding with a 12-6 victory over East Sacramento Saturday, but fell victim to Arizona’s big bats in being eliminated in a 12-6 defeat the next day.
In addition to finishing 1-2 in the nine-team tournament, San Benito picked up some individual accolades. Third baseman Kyle Zozaya won the home run derby in Thursday’s opening ceremonies, thrilling his teammates and the team’s traveling supporters. Center fielder Ramiro Chapa took second in the base-running competition, an event in which players were timed running from home plate all the way around the bases. The team’s infield also took third in the around-the-horn relay.
When San Benito took the field for its opener, the All-Stars fell behind early at the hands of some defensive miscues. After its sterling play in the field throughout the District 1 and Central California state tournaments, the hiccups came at the worst possible time.
A home run by Chapa and solid pitching by starter Justin Terrill and reliever Kyle Vallejo kept San Benito within striking distance, but the All-Stars couldn’t break through against Santa Rosa’s crafty left-hander.
After the team suffered its first loss, Zozaya, the assistant coach, was confident the players would rebound in the tournament that also included teams from Nevada, Utah and Guam.
“That’s what I like about these kids,” Zozaya said. “They never give up and I knew they’d come back firing the next day.”
Buoyed by Anthony Alvarez’s solid effort on the mound, San Benito responded with what had been the norm for the team, a victory in which the players combined effective pitching with fine defense and plenty of offense.
Knowing that they needed to run the table to realize their dream of a World Series berth, the All-Stars took the field on Sunday intent on following their usual blueprint for success. But Arizona quickly put a damper on San Benito’s hopes, scoring four runs right off the bat.
The All-Stars fired right back behind two key hits from catcher Nick Acosta, eventually pulling to within 5-4, but the team couldn’t take advantage of back-to-back bases-loaded situations in the middle innings to take the lead. Despite the best efforts of three San Benito pitchers, Arizona had its way with the bats throughout to put the game out of reach.
The shock of being eliminated is still considerable, with San Benito players and coaches being forced to adjust to the end of the team’s run. Manager Stephen Ferranti did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Assistant coach Zozaya, sharing a common theme, said “It hits you when you go home because you’re like, ‘Now what?'”
Shaw-Fuss said he and other players learned a lot from their Pacific Southwest region play.
“I thought it was fun because I’ve never experienced going up to that hard of a level of baseball,” he related.
Zozaya, who accompanied a group of players on a therapeutic Waterworld visit Monday, said the District 1 and Central California state champions should hold their heads high.
“(It was) a magnificent run,” he said. “Think about what they’ve done – running through district and state. … They were terrific. That’s what I told them. That was the ride of my life, at least as far as baseball goes.”
Contact Scott Campbell at
sc*******@fr***********.com
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