Bulldogs will be team to beat in Mount Hamilton and CCS next
year
Just as the Sobrato baseball team set the bar in 2008, the 2009 Bulldogs have pushed it even higher.
And wouldn’t you know it, they did so by taking the season one game, one inning, one pitch at a time. Leave it to these scrappy Wonderdogs to show how far a team can go when it aims small, plays big and doesn’t look ahead.
Watching them finish four runs from ordering their championship rings Saturday at San Jose Municipal Stadium, it was hard to believe they started the season 3-5. It was hard to believe their only preseason goal was to finish in the top four in the Mount Hamilton Division, thus making the CIF-Central Coast Section Playoffs. It was hard to believe they went 3-24 in 2006, the program’s second year.
The Bulldogs have become a section powerhouse almost over night under coach Shorty Gutierrez, and it doesn’t look like they are going away anytime soon.
Like last year, Sobrato is losing a very talented group of seniors, but welcoming back a larger junior class that includes the heart of its stellar pitching rotation — nine-game winner Ryan Williams and the Bradley brothers, Chris and Bryan.
In the wake of his team’s 4-1 loss to Los Gatos in Saturday’s Division II final, Gutierrez cracked a smile looking ahead to next spring.
“The guys are already talking,” the fifth-year skipper said. “Now we got a taste of what it’s like to be in the big game and they know what it takes to get to this game just as well, too.
“If we can just stay on top of each other and work toward that goal, I think it should be a lot easier to get to that goal of getting back here. We know we have a good squad coming back here, and our expectations are going to be higher.”
That the Bulldogs reached new heights as the new kid in town in the Mount Hamilton makes one wonder how they will fare next year when their secret is out.
The best thing they can do is not change. As is 2008, they hit their stride nicely in the Salinas Easter Tournament, experimenting with their new players while keeping the veterans in their comfort zones.
Chris Bradley emerged as a formidable replacement on the hill for Billy Birrell, who was limited to shortstop because of tendonitis in his throwing elbow.
Shea Adams switched off at pitcher and catcher and became irreplaceable at both positions.
Varsity newcomers Kaleo Correa and David Rotter were batting better than .250 by the end of the regular season and doing their part in the field.
“We pulled through as a team this year,” Adams said. “We all did our part.”
Like every year, the toughest thing to replace will be the aforementioned seniors, both in terms of their leadership and production. Birrell (.356 Avg., 28 runs, 19 RBIs, 2 HRs) was solid at the plate and in the field; Adams (.368 Avg., 32 hits, 32 Ks, 25 runs) was an every-day contributor; Gutierrez dubbed Andrew Commons (no errors) one of the best first basemen he has coached; Rauley Cambra was the quarterback and Nick Hagiperos was the Kool-Aid Man-caliber vocal leader (oh yeah!).
“This year, I didn’t think it’d be anything like last year, and it’s been even better,” Commons said. “I wasn’t sure where I was going to fit in, I just wanted to do what I could. I loved this team.”
Looking at their 12 returning cast members, it’s not a stretch to think Sobrato will make another run for a CCS championship in 2010 on top of the Mount Hamilton crown. Six of their starters from Saturday’s game are coming back, including Williams (.383 Avg., 21 RBIs); Tim Andrade (.304) and Chris (.393 Avg., 35 hits, 19 RBIs) and Bryan Bradley (.364 Avg., 28 hits, 10 RBIs).
For the first time in their precocious program history, they won’t just be contenders, they’ll be favorites. It all comes down to how they deal with it.
“It’s been a roller-coaster ride, but we’ll definitely enjoy it and take that ride again next year,” Gutierrez said. “We’re all looking forward to that already. The season starts tomorrow for next year.”
NOTE: Offensive stats do not include postseason.
