Updated Wednesday, 10:16 a.m.: Campbell's Pony All-Stars walloped Salinas' Toro Pony Tuesday night by a score of 13-0, team manager Gary Enriquez said.
"It was no score until the third inning when we exploded for 10 runs, led by A.J. Sato's bases loaded double," he reported.
The team next plays August 3 at 2:30 p.m. against the Ariz. and Southwest Champion team from Scottsdale, Ariz. at Franich Park in Watsonville.
Fifteen Campbell pony baseballers play in the biggest game of their lives tonight: the Northern California Regional Championship against Toro Pony out of Salinas.
If they win, the boys will head to Watsonville for the West Zone Tournament, facing teams from Arizona, Utah, Hawaii and southern California. The winner of this tourney goes on to the World Series in Washington, Pa.
The Campbell team, made up of the top regular season 14-year-old pony players from around the district, has been winning with style, crushing rival teams from districts like Los Gatos and San Jose by 12 to zero margins.
"I've coached for 22 years and I've done a few tournaments, but never with a team this good," said Gary Enriquez, the team's manager. "After our first practice, the other coaches and I turned to each other and said, 'This team could be special.'"
What makes this group of boys, the majority of whom are Campbell residents, so unique, Enriquez said, is their complete lack of egos.
"All these guys get along, which is rare for 14-year-olds," he said. "And the parents get along too and don't have egos, which is probably even more rare. This is a close knit team."
Clearly, to get to this level, the boys needed some physical skill to back up their esprit de corps.
"They're good...very good," Enriquez said. "I just fill out the line-up and they do the rest."
The support from the Campbell community has helped elevate the players' spirits, Enriquez said, and he hopes the hometown crowd turns out tonight.
"There hasn't been a team recently that's been this good and that's dominated so much," he said. "The word is getting out and people are coming out to watch them play. It's pretty neat."
Here's a complete roster of players and coaches:
#21 Nikolai Flowers
#7 Riki Desa
#5 Alex Lopez
#32 Greg Olimpia
#13 Kristofer Bubic
#37 Angel Villa
#36 Nolan Barber
#10 A.J. Sato
#15 Sam Maniglia
#24 Calvin Quittner
#25 Matthew Massaro
#38 Jake Miller
#20 Ryan Sutton
#4 Blake Uyehara
#26 Riley Fong
Mgr. Gary Enriquez
Coach Tim Thompson
Coach Vern Enriquez
The Campbell Pony League 14-Year-Old All-Stars play at Rosita Park in Los Altos, located at 401 Rosita Avenue, at 5:30 p.m. tonight.
