 For South Bay Surf, winning on the field in the 12u division of the Triple Crown U.S. Club Championships has led to more fun off the field. The Surf ensured themselves a lot more free time Thursday thanks to a 13-3 (4) win over the Dallas Patriots to lock down one of the top seeds in the Championship Bracket.
“We wanted to come in and represent the West Coast, represent California and all of the hard work we put in,” said Surf head coach Jonathon LaRosa. “A lot of these kids work with personal trainers and personal pitching coaches. They work hard. It was our goal to be the top team coming out of pool play, and hopefully we accomplished that today.” The Surf jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning thanks to clutch two-out hitting. All of the runs for the Surf in the first, and again in a four-run third, came with two outs in the inning. Jillian Albayati started the scoring with an RBI double in the first, then came through with another two-run double in the third. Hector Galvan also drove in three runs with hits in the first and the third. “We know the team that makes the fewest mistakes usually wins games,” Galvan said. “We knew if we came out and didn’t make any mistakes, we’d have a good chance to win.” Dallas scored two runs in the top of the fourth to cut the lead to 8-3, but the Surf pulled away with five runs in the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach. Jeremy LaRosa’s double with two outs in the inning would be the one to put a lid on the contest. In total, 11 of the 13 runs scored by the Surf were with two outs. “Our two-out hitting was clutch for us,” coach LaRosa said. “Playing in this heat isn’t fun, but if you have the chance to only play a four-inning game, our kids are going to go for it.” For coach LaRosa, almost as important as winning in the tournament is the opportunity to explore a part of the country that many of his players have never visited before. The win in this morning’s game means the team will be able to travel to Atlanta and visit locations like the World of Coca-Cola Museum. “Winning this game was essential because if we didn’t win this game, there was a chance that we were going to have to come back and play this evening, and that was going to spoil our plans,” he said. “But this trip, we’ve had a lot of fun, we’ve had a lot of pool parties, some good family time, and just a lot of team bonding.” South Bay Surf finishes with a 3-0 mark in pool play, with the Dallas Patriots closing pool play at 0-3. Tags: Baseball, Triple Crown Baseball, US Club Nationals |
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