Fresh off claiming the top spot in the Prep2Prep CIF Central Coast Section rankings after taking down previous No. 1 Watsonville and No. 2 Notre Dame-Salinas, San Benito went to Las Vegas and won five games to capture the Las Vegas Spring Jamboree after an explosive 18-6 title-game victory over Kennedy-Granada Hills.
Along the way the San Benito (14-3) had a 2-0 win over Nevada Top 10 Centennial-Las Vegas and a 6-5 victory over a Shadow Ridge-Las Vegas team ranked No. 3 in the Silver State in the Maxpreps computer rankings. In the Shadow Ridge win they led 6-0 going to the bottom of the fourth and then had to hold off the powerful local girls.
“Shadow Ridge was the real deal, big, strong and quick with a North Carolina commit – and we squeaked by them,” said Balers Coach Andrew Barragan on Easter Sunday after returning home on Saturday night.
The shut out of host and all-sport perennial powerhouse Centennial came just before the Shadow Ridge win and was equally impressive.
“Shadow Ridge and Centennial have the same kind of rivalry we have with Notre Dame (Salinas) so beating them both was very special,” Barragan remarked.
Although the title-game victory looks lopsided it didn’t get that way until the fourth inning. The Balers scored three in the first inning and one in the second and exploded for seven runs in the fourth and led 11-6 before adding another seven-spot in the seventh for the final margin. All-in-all San Benito had 23 hits in the game.
“Kennedy was a good team but they were pretty tired,” Barragan said.
Junior pitcher Amanda Moisa pitched 25.2 innings over four games and won them all. Her battery mate sophomore catcher Amber Rodriquez caught all five games and 32 innings and kept runners from stealing, plus she had six hits.
“Amanda had those big schools off balance and out in front of the ball,” Barragan said.
While Moisa and Rodriquez did their thing the other girls had their hitting shoes on against Las Vegas’ best.
Junior left-fielder Noel Chavarria was the tournament MVP after some clutch hitting resulted in her going 9-for-18 with three home runs and seven runs batted in. Junior right-fielder Chloe Cortez was 10-for-16; senior centerfielder Brittnee Rossi was 9-for-18 with three doubles, a triple and five RBIs. Junior designated hitter Ayla Gabel was 5-for-11 with five walks.
There is little question San Benito will remain atop the P2P CIFCCS rankings and when word of this tournament win gets out they may very well crack the Cal-Hi Sports rankings.
The Balers are idle until Friday when they open River City-West Sacramento in the NorCal Classic at the Tracy Sports Complex. Cal-Hi Sports No. 15 Tracy is in the field.
