While many packed for vacations or trips with their friends over spring break, the Pitman baseball team packed their uniforms and gear to head to San Luis Obispo to play in tournament.
The team already knew before they left that they were going to be up against some difficult teams in the tournament. On the bus ride to the tournament, they were trying to get focused for their opening game of the tournament that would be held the same day as the bus ride.
Their first game was at 7 p.m. of that Wednesday night against their most challenging team, SanRamonValley. Going into this tournament, SanRamonValley was ranked 5th in Northern California and the Pride knew they would have to really play well in this game to beat their opponent. Unfortunately, the Pride lost their first game 12-3, since they didn’t play as well as they could have. The Pride pitched some of their better pitchers Nick Jones, Daren Finney and Josue Montoya, but that still wasn’t enough to get the Pride a win in their first game.
The next day they geared up for a double header day. Their first game was against MorroBay and they beat them 4-0. They had Josh Hernandez on the mound against Morro Boy. They were worthy opponent but the Pride still came out on top in the end. For their second game of the day they played Saint Mary’s and won again 6-2. They had Zachary Wichman and Donovan Bravo pitching for the Pride. Bravo also had some clutch hits along with Colton Evans.
On their last day of their tournament they played one final game against AmadorValley that the Pride won 9-3. The win is credited to their solid pitching performances by, Donovan Bravo, Ben Lascano, and Anthony Encalade. They ended the tournament with a 3-1 record.
This was not only a great tournament for the boys but also a great new opportunity to get to play some teams who aren’t local or in their league. Since the team is made up of mostly seniors, it was good for them to see the new competition that they can be facing in college. For the team as a whole, though, it was good because they don’t see many new difficult teams so it was s a very grounding experience for the team to learn what areas they need practice in.
Not only did this help the team physical but also mentally. This was a great bonding experience for all the players since they were all rooming with each other and spending a lot of time together over the three days that they were there. “It was a great bonding experience with my team and I feel like it really helped us stay strong going into the second half of the season” said Zachary Wichman a pitcher for the Pride.
At the end of the day our Pitman Pride baseball team went 3-1 against some great teams in a great tournament. They made the little town of Turlock very proud with each win against these new, tougher teams, because we have a great baseball program.