They came, they saw, and they conquered, tearing through the Babe Ruth League’s district playoffs and claiming the title of best baseball team made up of 15-year-olds on the Central Coast.
Though the Santa Maria All-Stars handily accomplished the goals set by their coach Anthony Bendele, they’re not ready to go quietly into the summer night.
“We thought we had the team, the talent, and the capability of winning the tournament to make it to state,” Bendele said. “Now obviously our goals have shifted towards the state tournament. We’d like to do well and have a strong showing.”
Familiarity bred success for the All-Stars, a squad made up of the best players from the city’s Northside, Southside, and Westside leagues. The team’s core group has played together for almost eight years, and Bendele, who also coached the players as 13-year-olds, watched them mature into a well-rounded club that can bunt and steal as well as hit for power.
“Our attitude is ‘Don’t quit, don’t give up, fight for every out, and fight for every at-bat,’” Bendele said. “We have that killer instinct. When we get a team down, we know how to put them away.”
The All-Stars proved their offensive might throughout the playoffs. After edging out Lompoc 8-7 in the opening game on July 11, the team smashed Arroyo Grande 17-1 then dominated Paso Robles 14-2.
The District 6 championship on July 16 against Orcutt was deja vu all over again for Bendele and his players, who found themselves in a similar situation two years ago: That earlier team cruised through the playoffs as well, before they were upset by Lompoc twice in a row in the championship round.
“We were trying to avoid that disaster again—which we did,” Bendele said.
This time around, the Stars aligned. The coach’s strategy coming into the game was to keep his team patient at the plate, hopefully getting Orcutt’s pitchers tired early.
“Kids being kids, they weren’t patient. They were swinging at anything they saw,” Bendele said. “In the second inning, we did a little bit better job at swinging the bat, and we got a little lead and built on it. I was just hoping we had enough runs to withstand any comeback.”
Pitcher Marc Lopez came up huge for Santa Maria in the final, giving up just one run and striking out five in five innings. He also knocked in a run, one of five the team scored in the second inning.
Santa Maria built an 8-1 lead into the top of the sixth, when Orcutt mounted the comeback that Bendele feared. Orcutt was able to pull within three runs, but got no closer. Santa Maria held on for a 9-5 victory, polishing off a perfect 4-0 playoff run.
Lopez, a Pioneer Valley High School product, said he wasn’t rattled by the big-game pressure.
“It was just like any other game: You just try to throw strikes,” he said. “I knew we had a good shot at winning district. We were the team to beat playing at home, and that’s what you want.”
The win marked Bendele’s first Babe Ruth district title as coach. His team will next head to Dinuba for the state tournament, where they’ll face San Benito in the first round on July 24.
“I was just excited for the kids. I knew how bad they wanted it,” Bendele said. “I was happy for them, and happy to see the excitement on their faces knowing that they get to play another tournament.”
One of the players who felt the sting of last year’s early district tournament exit, catcher and leadoff batter Eddie Cavazos, said this year’s team just wanted it more.
“It feels good,” Cavazos said. “We haven’t done that before, so it’s a new type of
enjoyment.”
Cavazos, who also catches for St. Joseph High School, took a cautious look toward the state tournament.
“If we play well and play together, I think we could be competitive, but there’s also a lot of good teams out there, so we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” he said.
If anything, according to Bendele, his ballclub wasn’t tested enough in the district playoffs. On the upside, he used just five of his nine pitchers during the run, ensuring that the team will have plenty of fresh arms.
As the team’s ace, Lopez said that bodes well for a run at the state championship.
“Pitching is going to win the game, and the hitting will come,” he said.
While he worries about the effect of the heat on his players—it’s predicted to be 105 degrees in Dinuba by the first pitch—Bendele said that with club teams taking away top Babe Ruth League players, the race for this year’s state title is anybody’s ballgame.
“We have a good team. We can compete with anybody. We just have to get things to go our way,” Bendele said. “Once we get to the state tournament, everybody’s going to be pretty equal. It’s just who gets the most breaks.”
No matter how the tournament plays out, Bendele said he’d return home with pride.
“It’s been a long road for them the last couple of years,” the coach said. “We came out here and showed that we were the much better team in [the district] tournament and didn’t really have any struggles. I think we can give them a pat on the back for all the hard work they’ve done for the last year and a half.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas is safe! Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 23-30, 2009.