Memories of his son, Vinnie, being mobbed by teammates after
scoring the winning run in the Mustang-9 Central Region
championship against Paso Robles will burn bright for Morgan Hill
manager Vince LaGatta. Brighter than memories of last year’s trip
to the Pinto World Series, or Morgan Hill’s earlier tournament win
over Paso Robles, the team that unseated LaGatta’s club in the
Morgan Hill Section finals two weeks ago — this was something
else
BRENTWOOD
Memories of his son, Vinnie, being mobbed by teammates after scoring the winning run in the Mustang-9 Central Region championship against Paso Robles will burn bright for Morgan Hill manager Vince LaGatta.
Brighter than memories of last year’s trip to the Pinto World Series, or Morgan Hill’s earlier tournament win over Paso Robles, the team that unseated LaGatta’s club in the Morgan Hill Section finals two weeks ago — this was something else.
In beating Paso Robles 11-10 Sunday at Sunset Park in Brentwood, Morgan Hill gained entrance to the West Zone Tournament and its own place in history.
“This championship means more to us than anything we’ve ever done,” Vince LaGatta said. “We’re the first (9-and-under) team from Morgan Hill to make it to zone. Last year, these kids became heroes by going to the Pinto World Series. Now they are legends.”
That distinction came with the journey Morgan Hill took to reach the decisive eight-team tournament, which begins July 28 at Creekside Park in Walnut. Morgan Hill bested a reigning section champion in three of its four games, with the fourth win coming by 13-4 score Saturday against Orinda, a tough No. 2 seed from the East Bay Section. Morgan Hill opened the tournament with an 11-0 win over East Bay champion Bel Passi on Wednesday and proceeded to beat Paso Robles twice in the same fashion Paso Robles took two from Morgan Hill at Sectionals — by one run.
“It was just back and forth every game, as good of baseball as you’re going to see at this level,” Vince LaGatta said. “We knew it’d be a battle again (Sunday).”
Morgan Hill scattered three runs across the first two innings only to watch Paso Robles pull even at 1-1 in the second and 3-3 in the third. LaGatta’s players were “feeling good” after they went ahead 6-3 in the third. Paso Robles responded, though, with five runs in the fifth to take an 8-6 lead. Morgan Hill went back ahead 9-8 in the bottom half, but Paso Robes answered with two more runs, putting Morgan Hill’s back to the wall with a 10-9 deficit to overcome in the final inning. The locals did just that, getting a clutch RBI single by Cory Taylor to send the game into an extra inning.
Vinnie LaGatta came through brilliantly at both ends in the seventh, retiring the side in order and drawing a walk in the bottom half to set up Jonathan Singleton’s game-ending single up the middle.
“Once they had that confidence they could beat Paso Robles, they knew could do it again,” Vince LaGatta said. “We knew it was going to come down to something outside of talent, because we both had plenty of it. We had to play a clean, focused game and rise up to adversity.”
The road to the Pinto World Series was much different. The Morgan Hill All-Stars needed only to win their host section tournament, which they did by a combined margin of 42-3. Morgan Hill placed in the top four at the all-California World Series; a decent showing that pales in comparison to the team’s expectations for Walnut.
“We’re not just going there to participate,” Vince LaGatta said. “We want to win another flag, the only one that matters now.”
MUSTANG: A long road through the losers’ bracket took a toll on the Morgan Hill A All-Stars, who on Saturday were eliminated from their host section tournament at Britton Middle School with an 11-1 loss to Los Altos/Mountain View A.
The locals were two wins away from reaching the championship round and qualifying for Regionals. They would have had little energy left, however, after playing three games in four days. The losers’ bracket final was held Saturday afternoon, with the championship round beginning Sunday morning.
“We just had to win too many in a row. We ran out of gas,” Morgan Hill manager Rich Dunne said. “A lot of the teams we played had to play fewer games than us.”
Los Altos/Mountain View A was eliminated Saturday with a 6-0 loss to South San Francisco 1. Blossom Valley A beat then beat South San Francisco 1 by 12-0 score Sunday morning to clinch the title.
Morgan Hill, which lost its opening game in the 11-team, double-elimination tournament, stayed alive Friday with a hard-fought 8-7 victory over Blossom Valley 2. Morgan Hill scored six runs in the first inning, getting RBIs by Damon Rodriguez, Ryan Byrne, Jason Bettancourt, Daniel Vo and Seth Conforti. Pitcher Donald Ukanwa delivered another clutch performance, and Charles Romriel also pitched well.
“It’s crazy that more teams weren’t selected to Regionals,” said Dunne, whose team was a win away from advancing a year ago. “If we can keep the core together next year, we should have a good chance of making it.”
BRONCO: Morgan Hill faced elimination in the Blossom Valley Sectional after losing 15-5 Sunday to nationally ranked Blossom Valley.
Morgan Hill returned to Herman Intermediate School to face South San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. Monday (results were late by press time).
Against Blossom Valley, Morgan Hill managed a few highlights, including a two-run homer by Kekoa Bantilan and a grand slam-denying catch by Matthew Roth, who gloved a fly ball on the run and fell over the fence.
Morgan Hill opened the eight-team tournament Saturday with a 14-1 victory over Fremont. Nick Hoefling struck out eight in five innings, and Michael Ibarra drove in seven runs in a three-for-four effort.
