They believed, but they needed to make everyone else believe.
They knew they were good enough, but they needed to show everyone
else how good they were. They expected to be there, but they needed
to show everyone else that they deserved to be there.
They believed, but they needed to make everyone else believe.
They knew they were good enough, but they needed to show everyone else how good they were.
They expected to be there, but they needed to show everyone else that they deserved to be there.
The Morgan Hill Colt All-Star team’s run ended in the semifinals of the Colt World Series on Tuesday with a 10-6 loss to Tampa, Fla., which continued on to beat Greensboro, N.C., to win its fourth straight title.
But along the way, Morgan Hill showed an ability to continually fight back and play some great baseball.
The team took advantage of the opportunity to host the Zone Tournament, which they did at Valley Christian High in San Jose because, unfortunately, the field conditions in Morgan Hill weren’t quite up to par.
And despite having never been in the winner’s bracket of the Zone before, the team went to work right away and proved to easily be the class of the tournament.
Morgan Hill exorcised some early demons by beating Santa Clara and Campbell on the tournament’s first day, two teams that manager Dave Newton admitted at the time are “two teams we don’t like very much.”
The team then proceeded to dispose of Jurupa 4-3 to reach the title game against Southwest Bakersfield.
In a position where Bakersfield needed to beat Morgan Hill twice to advance, the confident home team exploded early and often to take a 11-2 lead and eventually win 14-7.
Once Morgan Hill arrived in Indiana for the World Series, a level of play no Morgan Hill team had ever reached, it proved it wasn’t intimidated.
Opening the Series against Slovakia, a country where baseball is still a new sport, Morgan Hill didn’t take anything for granted.
An 18-0 win gave the team plenty of confidence and that helped it to a 5-3 win over the host Lafayette All-Stars, in front of no less than 3,500 fans.
One more win over Mexico put Morgan Hill in a great position to advance, which it did so in what’s being called one of the weirdest games in Colt World Series history.
Morgan Hill’s loss, which essentially was a win because it ensured its opponent O’Fallon, Miss., would be eliminated and Morgan Hill would earn the top seed in the Red Division, allowed the local boys to keep rolling.
The ultimate dream came up a bit short. But for a team making its first appearance, it clearly show its place.
With big hit after big hit against the best Colt teams from around the world, Morgan Hill proved to be a legitimate contender.
Tampa may have taken home its fourth straight title, and it did so with an 11-7 win over Greensboro, but Morgan Hill certainly made a name for itself in a place where it definitely belongs.
“I told the kids after the (final) game, ‘You were the first and no one can take that away from you,’ ” assistant coach Mark Cummins said.
This team may have been Morgan Hill’s first World Series team, but here’s to hoping it isn’t the last.
