Grandpa Souza wasn
’t able to provide his coveted burritos, and there weren’t any
cigars or beer in the dugout either, but something gassed up the
Live Oak High Alumni baseball team.
Grandpa Souza wasn’t able to provide his coveted burritos, and there weren’t any cigars or beer in the dugout either, but something gassed up the Live Oak High Alumni baseball team.
With a star-studded but past-its-prime 30-man roster of some of the top players in school history, the Alumni beat the Live Oak High varsity 8-6 on Saturday at Sarich Field for its third straight victory in the eight-year series.
Perhaps it was a supportive crowd, filled with the Alumni’s wives, kids and well-wishers, that leaned heavily toward the Acorn grads, who clearly needed all the emotional backing they could get.
Or maybe it was the brilliant, and mostly wind-free, day that greeted the Alumni’s creaking bones.
Whatever it was, the Alumni made it work.
To be fair, some of the Alumni players looked like they could still play.
To be honest, though, many of them looked like they never had played.
The Alumni’s game-winning rally came with the score tied at 5-5 in the top of the eighth inning, courtesy of the Thaw brothers. Mark smacked an RBI single for the first run, Eric moved his brother to third with a single of his own, and Bill knocked in Mark with a ground ball out.
The Alumni added a run in the ninth inning, then varsity pitching coach Eric Wagle finished the game against his own players.
Wagle surrendered a ringing RBI double to Steve Conner to score Andrew Cummins before he could get the final out.
Appropriately enough, Wagle struck out Acorn star Dave Newton, who represented the tying run, to end the game.
Earlier in the game, the Alumni got a two-run single from Mark Maciel to take a 3-2 lead.
Then, with the score tied at 3-3 in the fifth, Kevin Henley rapped out a two-run double to give the Alumni another lead.
Alum Manny Souza (Class of 1972) started the rally with his annual single, a feat that belies his non-athletic appearance.
One of the highlights of the game came when, with his kids urging him on from the stands, alum Rob Sigona smashed a high drive to the left field fence, then tried to stretch a sure double into a triple and ran out of gas between second and third.
This year’s fundraiser also heralded the inauguration of a new golf tourney, which was played at Gilroy Muni on Friday.
The team of Mike Alciati, Billy Souza, Chris Holm, Carlos Torres and Alumni coach Jim Crossen won the tourney.
All proceeds from the Alumni game and golf tournament benefit the Live Oak baseball program.
