The San Benito 14-year-old team finished its season one game shy of the championship game in the eight-team District 1 All-Star tournament held in Hollister this week. O’Keefe defeated Bell Passi for the title.
San Benito finished with a 2-2 record after beating Manteca 8-7, losing to Tracy 4-3, defeating Lodi 14-7 and losing to O’Keefe 8-6.
In the sixth inning of the final game, O’Keefe hit a ball that center fielder Roman Miranda made a valiant dive on but just came up short, and a couple runs scored. On the play, Miranda suffered a separated shoulder and had to leave the game.
“After the injury, everyone wasn’t really in the game – it took the air out of our sails,” said coach Robert Hopkins. “If I had an MVP to give, I’d give it to him.”
David Jacquez went 4 1/3 innings, and Nick Huston closed out the game on the mound for San Benito. Neither team could get more than a one-run advantage until O’Keefe scored in the end.
15’s
The San Benito 15-year-old All-Star team finished with a 1-2 record in the District 1 All-Star tournament in Lodi this week.
San Benito won its first game but then lost the next two.
“We had our chances, but we could never get the big hit to break it open – we were always one hit away,” said Manager Joey Escimilla, who along with Naz Martinez, volunteered to coach the team at the last minute because no one else wanted to take it up.
Escimilla and Martinez led the Marlins to a city Babe Ruth title and had eight players representing the team in the All-Star tournament.
“Everyone played three innings or more,” Escimilla said. “We wanted to win but they’re all All-Stars. So we just wanted to have fun. Everyone had good attitudes. I enjoyed coaching this team. They were pretty close to the best 15-year-olds that I have ever coached.”
In the first game, San Benito defeated Tracy 5-4. Joey Escimilla Jr. went 2-for-3 with two RBIs including the game-winning hit. Michael Garcia pitched five innings.
In the second game of the tournament, San Benito lost 11-4 to Lodi, the home team. And in the third game, San Benito lost 3-1 to Manteca.
The score was 1-1 going into the sixth inning, but Manteca scored runs in the sixth and seventh innings to win.
Pat Fancher pitched a strong six-inning game and had eight strikeouts. All three runs were unearned.
Escimilla said he plans to get a tournament team together and also hopes to resume the Hollister Senior Babe Ruth League next year.
