In the 7 to 8-year-old age group, baseball coaches/managers stress the importance of the fundamentals. Winning is secondary; having fun is paramount. But when both happens, it makes for a great celebration. So it is for the Morgan Hill Pony Baseball Pinto team, which captured the Central Section championship with an 11-10 win over South San Francisco at Britton Middle School on June 25.
Morgan Hill advanced to the Super Regionals on July 4 near Modesto.
The team got it done in thrilling fashion, scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tied 10-10 entering the final frame, Nathan Bergstrom led off with a walk before Justin Svoboda singled to right field.
Jack Wedge hit into a fielder’s choice, putting runners at first and third base with one out. Caleb Elliott followed with a single to left field, scoring Bergstrom for the winning run. It was pure pandemonium at the finish, as Morgan Hill capped a tournament in which it went 3-0, beating a very tough South San Francisco twice in the process.
“It was a good time, and the kids were excited about the victory,” Morgan Hill Pinto baseball coach Chris Bergstrom said. “These group of kids are very focused and one of the strongest hitting teams I’ve seen at this level.”
Although it’s not uncommon for a Morgan Hill Pinto squad to win sectionals, it would be a rare feat for it to advance out of the Super Regionals and into the World Series. But Bergstrom wouldn’t put it past his squad to reach that point.
In terms of the Central Section Tournament, Morgan Hill was flat-out dominant in two of its three games. Morgan Hill opened up the tourney with a 16-1 win over Los Altos-Mountain View and a 10-4 victory over South San Francisco, which went through the loser’s bracket to earn a rematch with Morgan Hill in the championship game.
South San Francisco made it close; however, Morgan Hill had just a little more in the end to prevail in a razor-thin contest. Chris Bergstrom said pitcher Christian Nguyen did a great job of holding the South San Francisco lineup at bay in the final two innings.
“He kept it close and kept on throwing strikes,” Bergstrom said. “Our entire lineup was getting hits, and all 12 of our players either got on base, scored a run or made some sort of defensive play that contributed to the win.”
The Morgan Hill roster includes Allen Alegria, Asher Williams, Brandon Pablo, Caleb Elliott. Christian Nguyen, Garrett Rubbo, Jack Graham, Jack Wedge, Jacob Fonseca, Justin Svoboda, Napoleon Tran and Nathan Bergstrom, while Mike Elliott and Tuan Tran are the assistant coaches. Chris Bergstrom said the ultimate goal for the coaching staff is to prepare the kids to play high school baseball.
That is done by stressing the fundamentals and having pitchers focus on throwing pitches that don’t put a tremendous amount of stress on their arm, elbow or shoulder.
“At this age, the kids should all be throwing fastballs and maybe a changeup,” Bergstrom said. “All we teach them is fastballs; they’re too young to be doing anything other than throwing the ball hard.”
Offensively, Morgan Hill has a couple of players who are capable of hitting home runs, but that is not the focus.
“At this age we really try to instill in them to drive the ball the other way because the fact of the matter is once a 7 or 8-year-old tries to hit a home run, the mechanics of his swing are not so ingrained that he can do that on command. Then they start opening up their stance and grounding the ball to the shortstop over and over again. We try to instill in them good mechanics because those good mechanics will pay off with base hits, doubles and triples. And when they’re 12 or 13, those home runs will come through their natural swing because they have a solid foundation of built-in mechanics.”
Bergstrom is in his second year coaching the Pinto division, having previously coached in the Shetland Division, which consists of 5 and 6-year-olds. The best part of the job is seeing kids develop the necessary skills to take them to a higher level in the future.
“It’s really rewarding seeing the kids learn something new, grasping it and being able to apply it in a game,” Bergstrom said. “Seeing their reaction when they realize, ‘Oh wow, I did that?’ is amazing. They realize they’ve done something they had never done before or didn’t think they could do.”
