Babe Ruth All-Star second baseman Marcus Sabatte turns an easy double play during the team's 10-5 win over Manteca Wednesday to take the District 1 championship at Vets Park.
There was a little bit of pressure, said San Benito's Anthony Ocampo, who pitched five innings of relief on Wednesday night in the championship of the District 1 State Qualifier Tournament against Manteca.
Playing in a tournament it cruised through last year, not to mention in front of its hometown fans at Veterans Memorial Park in Hollister, a little bit of pressure was certainly understandable.
"But we were too aggressive to start," said Joe Ocampo, manager of the San Benito Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars. "After that, we were patient at the plate and we exploded."
And the aforementioned explosion came during the fifth inning. Trailing 3-2, San Benito connected on eight straight hits, all with two outs, and posted an eight-spot on Manteca to coast to a comfortable 10-5 victory as well as the District 1 crown.
"You know how it is," Ocampo said, "once one guy starts hitting the baseball ...
"This tournament helped us to see what's at the next step because [Manteca] was a good team. They were a good team."
The next step will be the Central California State Tournament, which is slated for Friday, July 24, at Kameron Crawford Park in Dinuba. San Benito will open the tournament against the District 6 representative at 2:30 p.m.
"All these teams we played (in District 1), we faced their aces, which is great," Ocampo said. "It mentally prepared the boys.
"We saw a lot of good pitchers, but we had the advantage. We had the day off and the boys wanted to perform in front of Hollister."
Disposing of Tracy 9-4 to open the District 1 tournament last Friday, San Benito got its first taste of Manteca during Saturday's quarterfinal round. The two teams were knotted at 2-all when San Benito's Marcus Sabatte drove in the game-winner in the ninth inning.
Wednesday's championship final resembled a similar game, at least through the first five innings of play.
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San Benito went up 1-0 in the second when Daniel Guerrero drove home Sergio Cosio with a single up the middle. But Manteca answered with the equalizer in the following frame, then took a two-run lead in the third off of Ronnie Limas' single to right field.
"We wanted to be aggressive, but then we wanted to be patient," Joe Ocampo said. "Patience from the third inning on."
Jacob Cabral brought San Benito to within one run in the fourth when he blasted an RBI double to deep center field, scoring Anthony Ocampo from second base, and setting up the offensive onslaught in the fifth inning.
"I just think we picked up the momentum," said Cabral, who noted Manteca pitcher Zac Carrillo was throwing first-pitch fastball to start almost every at-bat. "We were seeing the ball good and everyone just started to pump each other up."
Following a Manteca throwing error and back-to-back fielder's choice outs to start the fifth, San Benito was positioned with a man on third and two outs. But after three straight RBI singles by Ocampo, Cabral and Cosio, Steven Hernandez blew the game open with a two-run single into center field to give San Benito a 7-3 lead.
Mark Nakata then trailed with a single before Marcus Sabatte connected on a two-run double to deep center field, while Adrian Medina followed with an RBI double to supply the local 15-year-olds with a seven-run cushion.
"We were hitting more, and that made the difference," said Anthony Ocampo, who closed out the game on the mound with five innings of relief (4H, 2R, 5K, 1BB, 1HBP) for starting pitcher Adrian Medina (2IP, 3H, 3R, 2ER, 2K, 2BB, 1HBP).
"At first, this game was close," Ocampo added. "And then we came out and showed what we got."
Manteca plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning off of Zac Lewallen's two-run single, but San Benito's eight-run fifth proved to be more than enough in the end.
Advancing to the state tournament for a third straight year, San Benito completes its District 1 run with a 4-0 record, having outscored its opponents by a 33-13 margin.
"We thought it wasn't going to be that tough, but it was," Joe Ocampo said. "It was a good thing. Mentally, these kids got stronger."
SANB - 010 180 0 - 10 15 3
MANT - 012 000 2 - 5 7 5
Andrew Matheson Andrew Matheson is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 334 or at amatheson@svnewspapers.com.
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