The San Benito Babe Ruth 15-and-under team saw its memorable season end on July 31 in the Pacific Southwest Regional tournament in Surprise, Ariz.
San Benito dropped a 10-4 decision to Tri-Valley, falling a win short of reaching the championship round. San Benito went 3-2 in the tourney, with both of its losses coming to Tri-Valley, a club based out of Dublin.
San Benito actually led 4-0 after two innings, but Tri-Valley came on strong in the later innings, scoring all 10 of its runs in the final four frames, including a five-run outburst in the top of the fourth.
San Benito’s five errors was part of its undoing. Just a day before, San Benito won two elimination games to keep its season alive. San Benito beat Sommerset of Arizona 6-5 in come-from-behind fashion before rolling to a 5-1 victory over Hawaii.
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,” he 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 added three runs 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 reminisced about 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.
