After losing its first game, the San Benito Babe Ruth
13-year-old All-Stars battled back through the elimination bracket
to advance to Wednesday night’s championship final in the Central
California State Tournament.
But playing in its sixth game in five days finally caught up to
the local All-Stars, which couldn’t match the output of Orcutt on
Wednesday in Santa Maria.
SANTA MARIA
After losing its first game, the San Benito Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars battled back through the elimination bracket to advance to Wednesday night’s championship final in the Central California State Tournament.
But playing in its sixth game in five days finally caught up to the local All-Stars, which couldn’t match the output of Orcutt on Wednesday in Santa Maria.
Behind 14 hits, Orcutt managed to end San Benito’s state run with a 12-0 victory in a game that ended due to the 10-run mercy rule.
“Ultimately, playing six games in five days took its toll,” San Benito manager Adam Breen said. “I was really proud of the way this team battled back after dropping into the losers bracket on day one.
“The guys, they fought hard. But in the end, we just came up short.”
After opening the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Taft, San Benito fought through the elimination bracket by picking up four straight wins: 15-9 over Hanford, 9-6 against Selma, 8-3 over Santa Maria and an 11-1 victory over Madera to advance to the title game against Orcutt.
“We felt going in we had a good chance,” said Breen, whose team comfortably defeated both Santa Maria and Madera, two teams that lost to Orcutt by just one run each.
“It didn’t make us overconfident, though,” Breen added. “We weren’t at full strength, pitching wise or just general rest. But we were on a four-game winning streak.”
The winning ways didn’t carry over, though. Orcutt jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning by connecting on a double, triple and single off pitcher Tommy Hernandez, who was on one day’s rest after tossing six innings on Monday.
“His arm felt good, but there was some fatigue,” Breen said.
Hernandez (3IP), nevertheless, settled down after the first inning and kept Orcutt scoreless during the next two innings.
Orcutt’s pitcher, though, kept San Benito off the scoreboard. Of the 15 outs recorded by the local 13-year-old All-Stars, nine were hit to the left side of the infield.
“We were really pulling the ball,” Breen said. “We were so anxious to hit the slower pitch that it took us out of our game a little bit.”
San Benito had just two hits in the game, which remained close until the fourth frame when Orcutt tacked on three runs to make it 5-0, then added seven more in the fifth to make it 12-0.
Orcutt will now advance to the Pacific Southwest Regional 13-year-old Tournament, which will be held Aug. 2-9 in Surprise, Ariz.
San Benito, meanwhile, ends its all-star run with a 7-2 record.
The local All-Stars were coming off an 11-1 win against Madera on Tuesday. The game was called in the fifth inning due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Hunter Haworth (5IP, 5K, 2H, 0ER) went the distance for San Benito, which received strong hitting performances from Zack Moeller (2H, 2R), Marcus Rueda (2H, 2R) and Garret Kelly (3R).
Moeller and Kelly, in fact, were named to the all-tournament team.
San Benito 14s
HOLLISTER
The San Benito Babe Ruth 14-year-old All-Stars also battled back through the elimination bracket to reach the Central California State Tournament championship on Wednesday night, but it too lost in the final.
After losing in the semifinal round to Santa Maria by an 11-0 margin on Monday night, San Benito defeated Central on Tuesday and earned a rematch with Santa Maria in Wednesday’s championship.
But Santa Maria proved too tough to beat. It jumped out to a 9-1 lead at one point and eventually held on for a 10-6 victory over San Benito at Veterans Memorial Park in Hollister.
The local 14-year-old All-Stars began to chip away at Santa Maria’s lead in the bottom of the fifth when Jorge Acosta lifted a bases-clearing triple to the right-center field gap, plating three runs to make it 9-4.
Santa Maria added a run in the sixth, though, and kept its lead comfortable in the late innings.
San Benito again added a pair of runs in the seventh when Cody Asp smacked a two-run double to left field, but Santa Maria’s lead was too great.
Santa Maria will now advance to the Pacific Southwest Regional 14-year-old Tournament, which will be held Aug. 2-11 in Surprise, Ariz.
San Benito, meanwhile, wraps up its postseason run with a 6-2 record, while local 14-year-olds Jorge Acosta, Marcos Perez and Russell Tobias were named to the all-tournament team.
