San Benito squanders lead, falls to Watsonville 9-2
It was a case of good-and-bad news for the San Benito Babe Ruth
16- to 18-year-old All-Stars this week.
On Monday, after Cody Gessell’s two-run double in the home half
of the sixth lifted San Benito to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory
against Hanford in the elimination bracket semifinals, a win that
advanced the team to the title game against Watsonville the
following night, the local All-Stars discovered that the top two
teams from the tournament would advance to regionals – no matter
the outcome against Watsonville in the championship.
San Benito squanders lead, falls to Watsonville 9-2
It was a case of good-and-bad news for the San Benito Babe Ruth 16- to 18-year-old All-Stars this week.
On Monday, after Cody Gessell’s two-run double in the home half of the sixth lifted San Benito to a come-from-behind 4-3 victory against Hanford in the elimination bracket semifinals, a win that advanced the team to the title game against Watsonville the following night, the local All-Stars discovered that the top two teams from the tournament would advance to regionals – no matter the outcome against Watsonville in the championship.
That was the good news. The more difficult pill to swallow was on Tuesday, though.
Leading 2-0 into the bottom of the fifth inning, San Benito surrendered the lead and essentially the championship when Watsonville sent 13 batters to the plate, capitalized on five errors in the field and scored nine straight runs en route to a 9-2 victory at Hollister’s Veterans Memorial Park.
San Benito will still advance to regionals, slated to begin July 21 in Modesto, but not with the title as Central California state champions.
And one inning may have been the difference.
“I think it’s not too difficult because the boys know now they can hang with this team,” San Benito manager Andrew Barragan said afterward. “We feel really comfortable going into this [southwest] regional. We can play with any team. We play our ball and we can hang with anyone.”
Craig Slibsager and Gessell were 2-for-4 Tuesday night, while Marcus Sabatte and Matt Naval each added an RBI double in the go-ahead second inning for San Benito, which held the narrow lead up until the fifth frame.
Naval, who also started on the mound for the locals, tossed four complete innings and into the fifth as well, allowing just one run on two hits while striking out three and walking two.
“This was Matt Naval. Unbelievable,” Barragan said of his starting pitcher.
“But I think the kids really got sucked into the dugout more than anything, started developing rabbit ears and they lost their composure,” the manager added. “No doubt, we outplayed that team … but when we’re not playing fundamental baseball, they start being loud in the dugout, which is fine, but we have to stay composed and we can’t get sucked into that.”
Although pitching and defense had been San Benito’s bread and butter during its three victories prior to Tuesday night’s championship, the latter imploded during the game-altering fifth inning.
After Miguel Corral blasted an RBI double to center field that one-hopped the wall and its 358-foot sign above, scoring Angel Sanchez from first base and cutting the deficit in half, the San Benito defense followed with four errors that led to eight additional runs – all unearned.
“It just fell apart. It was just a mental thing,” said Gessell, who along with teammates Kevin Salvas, Sabatte and Slibsager, was named to the all-tournament team following the game.
“This one doesn’t seem too hard because we’re on to regionals anyway,” Gessell added. “But if it was for regionals, this would be a lot harder.
“We’ll be good in regionals, and we did good today. Just take away that one inning.”
