The Babe Ruth League may be holding on by a thin thread. But don’t tell that to Bel-Mateo baseball coach Willy Baroncini.
Jesse Martinez
Baroncini’s Babe Ruth Bel-Mateo All-Stars 13-and-under brought home the Babe Ruth 13U Northern California championship crown, defeating Tri-Valley 4-0 in Monday’s Nor Cal title game at Clark Field in Woodland.
Parker Jessup
Right-hander Jesse Martinez earned tournament MVP honors after firing a complete-game shutout in the title game. Martinez benefitted from three infield double plays, with second baseman Wesley McDougal involved in all three.
“Our defense is really solid,” Baroncini said. “Our pitchers came in amazing. We have the pitching, and we have the defense.”
Bel-Mateo swept through the three-team tournament, with a 5-1 win over host Woodland in Saturday’s opener before turning back Tri-Valley on back-to-back days. The tourney is the first of the Babe Ruth All-Stars season, with no local or sectional play being held this summer.
While the Nor Cal showing of Babe Ruth League teams was nearly nonexistent for the 13U tourney, numbers for the Bel-Mateo Babe Ruth League surpassed expectations, according to Baroncini. In the 13s regular season, Bel-Mateo fielded six teams with a total of 32 players.
“This is the highest we’ve seen for Babe Ruth,” Baroncini said. “There’s a good group of kids that we brought into the league, and there’s talk that’s been going around that Babe Ruth has been getting kids prepped for the high school season.”
Babe Ruth League returned to the field this year for the first time since prior to the pandemic in 2019. Bel-Mateo is hosting the 15U tournament this season, with the Bel-Mateo 15U team winning three straight games to advance to Tuesday’s winners’ bracket semifinals. The championship game of the 15U tourney is scheduled for Thursday at the Belmont Sports Complex.
The 14U tournament, also held in Woodland, is being held currently. Bel-Mateo lost its opening game of that double-elimination tourney.
The 13U team featured a showing of arms. In addition to Martinez’s CG shutout, right-hander Parker Jessup went the distance in the semifinals, a 9-6 victory over Tri-Valley. In the tourney opener, a 5-1 victory over Woodland, right-hander Arnav Prathipati worked six innings to earn the win, and Riley Jackson closed it out in the seventh.
Bel-Mateo’s catching duo also showed off its arms. Jessup split time with George Campos, and the two did well to control the running game. Jessup threw out a would-be base stealer early in the opener, which gave runners pause for the remainder of the tourney, Baroncini said.
“They compete with each other and they’re vocal,” Baroncini said of Jessup and Campos. “They’re like the team captains of the team. … They’re very vocal and they keep the boys into the game.”
Jessup was also honored with the tournament’s sportsmanship award.
The Bel-Mateo 13U squad now advances to the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament opening July 24 in Price, Utah. The tourney will feature eight to 10 teams, including champions from Southern California, Central California, Utah East, Utah South, Utah North, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona.
The regional tournament bracket is yet to be announced.
“What we tell the kids is we’ve just got to play our game and go a hundred percent,” Baroncini said.
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CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
I think all districts should be white Caucasian districts so white folks can have full control . Oh wait, that would be considered racist.
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
CA Is Burning said:
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