FRESNO, Calif. – Don’t talk to BPA DeMarini Elite head coach Jared Sandler or any of his players about having something to prove after finishing as runner-up at both the Perfect Game/EvoShield Upperclass and Underclass National Championships played in Arizona last month.
The fighting DeMarini Elites had absolutely nothing to make amends for when they arrived here for the Perfect Game California World Series Upperclass on Saturday, even if might have looked that way after they won the tournament title Monday afternoon at Chukchansi Park.
“We don’t look at it like that at all,” Sandler said after watching his upperclass team take down CCB Elite Upperclass, 4-1, in the championship game. “If we were to really bring out all of our guys and take a shot, we feel like we’re really hard to beat. We come with guys that are still trying to get college scholarships and guys that want to play and compete and we just want to play as many good games as we can play.
“Anytime we can win a game or win a tournament it certainly feels good, but we don’t feel like we fell short in Arizona,” he said “We felt like the kids played hard and got better from it.”
There was no one better in the PGCWS Upperclass division this weekend, as BPA DeMarini wrapped up its title run with a 5-0-0 record. This is a team that identifies the Southern California community of San Juan Capistrano as its home base, and it had to beat teams from all across the state to claim this PG tournament championship. Its opponent in the championship game was CCB Elite Upperclass (4-1-0) from the Northern California city of San Jose.
BPA jumped on CCB with two runs in the bottom of the first inning, courtesy of a two-out, two-run line drive single to right field off the bat of Jack Owen, who did just about everything for BPA this weekend. The DeMarini Elites added two more in the fifth when Sam Cachola singled, moved to third on a Blake Berry double and eventually scored on a wild pitch; Berry came across when Jayson Gonzalez drove him in with a hard fielder’s choice groundout.
Ashton Goddard, a 2017 right-hander from Laguna Beach and a University of Utah recruit, was rock solid on the mound, allowing an earned run with a complete-game three-hitter, striking out five and walking three. He had a no-hitter through five but that was broken up when CCB’s Carter Aldrete led off the sixth with a triple; Goddard lost the shutout when Aldrete scored on an Angelo Dentoni sac fly.
“This was a good tournament to play in; there was a lot of good competition,” BPA’s Owen said. “Everyone played extremely well and even some of the younger guys playing up did really well, so it was really successful.”
Owen, a 6-foot-1, 165-pound 2017 left-hander/outfielder from Coto De Caza who has committed to Mississippi State, made two pitching appearances in the tournament and ended up throwing eight shutout innings, giving up three hits while striking out 11 and walking none.
He also smacked three singles and drove in three runs, just for good measure, but it was his work from the mound that earned him the tournament’s Most Valuable Pitcher Award.
“I think these guys have been playing really well … and I thought all three days this weekend they were really good,” Sandler said. “Jack Owen has been unbelievable and I don’t think people even realize how good he’s been.”
According to Sandler’s calculations, while pitching at four PG WWBA tournaments since early in July, Owen has thrown close to 40 scoreless innings. He was also named the MVPitcher at last month’s PG/EvoShield Underclass National Championship and has been named to eight all-tournament teams since early in 2013; he was put on the Top Prospect List at the PG National Showcase.
“He’s been really big and he’s been swinging the bat really well, too,” Sandler said. “When a guy gives you 40 scoreless it’s certainly appreciated.”
Of his experiences playing with BPA, Owen said: “This has been awesome. I’ve been playing with some of these guys like Sam Cachola and Wyatt Boone for four or five years now, and we have really good team chemistry and we always play really well together.”
BPA DeMarini Elite top 2018 outfielder Preston Hartsell, a Southern Cal commit from Newport Coast, went 5-for-13 (.385) with a home run, a team-high five RBI and two runs scored and was named the event’s Most Valuable Player. Hartsell also played for the BPA DeMarini Elite Underclass in one of the two PGCWS Underclass tournaments played over the weekend.
The championship game was a rematch of a pool-play game won by BPA, 6-2. BPA won the pool championship with its 3-0-0 mark – it outscored its three foes by a combined 19-4 – while CCB advanced to the semifinals as the tournament’s only wild-card entrant.
BPA DeMarini Elite reached the championship game on the strength of Owen’s stingy left arm. He fired a three-hit, nine-strikeout shutout in a 1-0 win over the Southern California Bombers Upperclass in the first semifinal Monday morning at Chukchansi Park. BPA scored the game’s only run in the bottom of the fourth on the strength of three walks and a wild pitch.
“I knew we score a run so I knew all we had to do was hold them to zero and we would be fine,” Owen said. “I threw all my pitches for strikes and relied on the defense, so it was all good.”
CCB overcame a 6-0 second-inning deficit by scoring seven runs between the top of the fourth and top of the eighth and held on for an 8-7 win over Central Cal Baseball Academy Upperclass (2-1-1) in Monday’s second semifinal at Chukchansi Park.
Fresno-based Central Cal jumped to its 6-0 lead on the strength of a double and two RBI from Blake Costa and a single and two driven in from Nick Zamora, then could only set back and watch as the Elite Upperclass put its bats to work. It finished with 13 hits in the eight-inning game to Central Cal’s seven.
Carter Hayes counted a double among his three hits and scored a run; Jonathan Mendoza was 3-for-5 with two runs scored; Trevor Rogers and Joe Hutchings each had a pair of singles and drove in a run; and Justin Sanders singled a drove in a pair. Rogers, a 2016 left-hander, came on in relief and delivered six, two-hit shutout innings, striking out seven and walking one.
In the end, winning championships isn’t the end-all, do-all for the players and coaches from BPA DeMarini Elite, but that doesn’t make hoisting a big gold trophy at the end of the day any less satisfying.
“(A championship) always makes the drive home a little nicer,” Sandler said. “But like I’ve said, we love coming and Perfect Game is the best organization in the country and they do a great job. We like playing in these tournaments so everything is good.”
2015 California World Series (Upperclass) - Pacific runner-up: CCB Elite Upperclass
2015 California World Series (Upperclass) - Pacific MVP: Preston Hartsell
2015 California World Series (Upperclass) - Pacific MV-Pitcher: Jack Owen
