They came. They saw. They, almost, conquered.
After all, it was the “experience” Blue Wave’s 15U team was looking for during the Triple Crown 2010 Slump Buster June 27-July 1 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Instead, the group of mostly league-age 14U players were only a game away from playing for the 15U Gold Division Championship in the nation’s largest youth tournament that is held each year in conjunction with the NCAA College World Series.
“We simply ran out of gas and luck,” noted head coach Aron Garcia after his teams elimination by Bullpen Baseball from Effort, PA. “But, the boys played hard all week and played some good teams, so I am proud of what they accomplished here.”
Blue Wave opened the tournament with a 4-0 win over the Delaware Sabres (Wilmington, DE), then defeated the Crusaders (Indianapolis, IN) 14-1 to capture the No. 2 seed out of 21 teams competing in the final session of the two-week-long tournament that attracts more than 500 teams from throughout the nation. The teams play games during the day, then attend NCAA College World Series games in the evening. Blue Wave played during the CWS championship games between UCLA and South Carolina.
“This was one of the best experiences we have put together for our teams yet,” Blue Wave President Steve Kruse said. “It was a perfect setting, the entire town and state are totally focused on baseball when you are there. We played teams from all over the nation, faced great competition, and the atmosphere and experience cannot be beat. We plan to send teams back there every year from now on.”
And, the competition did get bigger and better on the second day of the tournament when Garcia’s Gang earned two hard-fought victories to get into the championship round by defeating the Bingham, Utah, Miners 4-3 in the first game on Tuesday (June 29), then came from behind to beat the Hampton Roads (Newport News, VA) Hurricanes 7-5, sending both games home from the tournament in the elimination round.
Bullpen Baseball then defeated the Wave on Wednesday, 12-4, to advance to the championship game with the Utah Stars, which won the tournament 7-6 in the title game against Bullpen.
Members of the Blue Wave 15U Slump Buster 2010 team were: Matt Arakaki (Northwood), Nick Tanner (Trabuco Hills), Mikey Simonis (Mater Dei), Brandon Miraz (Mater Dei), Austin Von Blasingame (Northwood), Carlos Quintana (Mater Dei), Ojo Weiss (Northwood), James Clothier (Northwood), Logan Tomlinson (El Toro0, Wyatt Haccou (Calvary Chapel), Sam Clark (El Toro), Jeff Saroyan (JSerra), Dash Johnson (Mater Dei), Randell Kanemaru (Foothill), and Michael Fuchs (Northwood).