1-A Baseball Playoffs : Julian Easily Finishes Job for Title

Borrego Springs proved to be one of the easier hurdles the Julian High School baseball team had to overcome to win the San Diego Section 1-A baseball title.

That final step, a 7-1 rout of Borrego Springs, was taken Tuesday at San Diego State’s Smith Field behind a 3-hit, 12-strikeout performance by Travis Small.

“This is the best feeling I’ve ever had,” said Small, a left-hander who added a hit and scored three runs. “I came in with the feeling to just shoot down Borrego and just prove we could do it.”

What Julian (18-6) did was win its first section baseball championship and its first section title in any sport since 1981.

It had to overcome much to get there. Most important, it had to get past defending three-time champion Francis Parker, which had beaten Julian, 10-0, earlier in the season. Julian won the rematch, 9-8, in the semifinals Friday.

“This was kind of anticlimactic,” said Teak Nichols, who was 2 for 3 with 3 runs batted in against Borrego Springs.

Julian probably would never had a championship opportunity had it not been for the initiative taken several years ago by some players. Julian did not even have a Little League when seniors such as Small, Dusty Yohner, Danny Lopez and Woody and Steve Haynes were in seventh grade. The closest was in Ramona, a 30-minute drive.

“These guys got together and formed the first Little League team in Julian to play in the league in Ramona,” said Carl Focarelli, a Julian co-coach. “The first few years they just got pounded.”

Focarelli said that some of the kids didn’t even know how to throw when they got started. They lost 22 of 23 in their first two years.

Nichols, a junior who joined the Little League team a year later, called the seniors pioneers.

“Baseball is probably the most popular sport up in Julian,” he said, noting that there are now eight Little League teams. “Our class is just a bunch of athletic guys. All we did at recess was play ball.”

The one problem is that the temperature often gets below freezing in the winter. Focarelli said the team spends three or four weeks at the beginning of the season practicing with tennis balls in the cafeteria, which has an eight-foot ceiling. Still, it wasn’t uncommon for the players to take batting practice in 20-degree weather with snow on the ground.

“We gave them one day off all year,” said Tom Helmantoler, the other coach. “They would be out there with three-four jackets on.”

Julian took the lead for good in the bottom of the first inning when Ken Teter scored from second on Woody Haynes’ infield single. It was 3-1 in the fifth when Julian put the game away with three runs, highlighted by Nichols’ two-run infield single.

Gil Perez (8-4) was the loser for Borrego Springs (16-7).