Morgan Hill A beats Paso Robles 11-1 in championship round of
Morgan Hill Sectional
MORGAN HILL — Vince LaGatta and his Pinto A All-Star staff had been looking forward to the postseason since winter, well before they hand-picked the best players from the deepest division in Morgan Hill Pony Baseball.
That special group of 8-year-olds proved to be one of the best around Thursday by beating Paso Robles 11-1 in the championship round of the Morgan Hill Sectional. Now, they will see where they measure up against the best of the best in California.
San Jose PAL Stadium get ready. Another Morgan Hill team is heading to the World Series.
“I’m really proud of this group. It’s really a tribute to the kids more than anything we did as coaches,” LaGatta said. “They bought in to what we’ve talked about since February. They’re all a very close-knit group, and they brought the dedication it took to get this far.”
The final piece of their section-championship puzzle seemed in place before the final at Britton Middle School. The local All-Stars were coming off three straight victories by 11 runs or more in the seven-team double-elimination tournament and needed to beat Paso Robles, the losers’-bracket champion, once to play for Pinto baseball’s ultimate prize.
“The kids were still pretty hungry,” Morgan Hill co-coach Bill Singleton said. “Seven of these kids were on our 7-year-olds team that won one game in All-Stars a year ago, and they didn’t want any bad experiences this time around.”
Paso Robles provided the toughest test yet, keeping the score close until the fifth inning when Morgan Hill scored eight runs on the way to winning by 10-run rule for the fourth straight game. Gio Saso punctuated the rally with a grand slam.
Morgan Hill outscored its tournament opponents 42-3.
“It was just a matter of staying ahead of the curb, keeping the kids ready and using their experience from last year to draw inspiration,” LaGatta said. “I can honestly say that every one of these 12 kids had a key play in this tournament. And when the pressure was finally on (Thursday), they did not crumble. That will be big for us next tournament.”
Morgan Hill will open the World Series against a proven Southern California Super Regional champion at 5 p.m. Thursday in PAL Stadium. Those two are part of a four-team pool that includes the runner-up from the East Bay Regional and tournament-host San Jose PAL. The other pool comprises the East Bay winner as well as clubs from Los Angeles and Sacramento.
To make the final bracket, the Morgan Hill All-Stars will need the same combined effort seen Thursday. Their pitching was strong once again as Colton Moorehead, Karson Mazotti and Saso kept the Paso Robles hitters at bay while their offense found its stroke. Will Waxman broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth inning with a bases-loaded single that scored two runs and put Morgan Hill in control.
Defensively, shortstop Vinnie LaGatta robbed Paso Robles of several would-be base hits up the middle. Moorehead threw a runner out from right field.
“What they drew from this was knowing they can compete against good teams and win close games — or games that are tight most of the way,” Vince LaGatta said. “Every game is going to be tight at the World Series, but they can say they’ve been in that spot before. They just need to keep the pieces together.”
It is hard to believe this team has only been playing together for a few weeks. LaGatta and his staff insist there are no leaders in the dugout, just a well-rounded group that plays fundamentally sound.
“For them to gel so quickly really says a lot about these kids,” co-coach Mike Mercurio said. “We had an idea that these kids can go far if they do it as a team.”
And so they have. Not that his players needed any extra motivation before Thursday’s game, but Vince LaGatta reminded them that they had the opportunity to make it their last one on the Pinto field at Britton. Next year, they will graduate to the Mustang 9 Division.
“I told them to go out and represent this field and Morgan Hill community well,” LaGatta said. “You always want to win. They want to win together.”
