San Benito 10U baseball team goes 5-0 at Fall State
Championship
SUNNYVALE
San Benito Smashers manager Frank Soto has a funny way of saying his team’s record. Despite playing in a number of tournaments, Soto says his team is 4-2.
Of course, that’s four first-place finishes and two runner-up finishes.
“That’s pretty impressive for the kids to pull all that off,” Soto said. “That’s hard work.”
The 10U Smashers continued their dominance last weekend at the Fall State Championship tournament at Sunnyvale’s Twin Creeks Sports Complex, where they compiled a 5-0 record en route to another first-place finish.
The Smashers went 2-0 on Saturday after defeating the LBA Bucks Blue of Lafayette 13-6 and the Clayton Valley Sluggers 7-5.
Tim Manderson and Drew Williams combined for five innings on the hill against Lafayette, while Josh Zanger and Izzack Olejnik did the same against the Sluggers, throwing a combined six innings.
On Sunday, San Benito upended Bulldog Baseball out of Vacaville by a 10-2 margin, defeated the Lamorinda Diablos 7-4 in the semifinals, and edged the Monterey Bay Junior Otters 4-2 in the championship game.
Alex Soto and Manderson hurled complete games against Vacaville and Lamorinda, respectively, while DaVonte Butler threw six strong in the championship final.
Other members of the team include Jake Ito, Sammy Vincencio, Derek Moeller and Matt Hill.
Soto highlighted the defensive prowess of Olejnik, who played “stellar” in center field.
“He made some beautiful catches,” Soto said, “like Jim Edmonds-like catches.
“Talk about being on that day. He was stellar.”
The Smashers will play in three more tournaments this season.
