Youth Is Served In Just One Tasty Setting

You got there, baby. Just like you dreamed when you swung at that first T-ball. You were catching where Benito catches or fielding ground balls where Tony Fernandez scoops ‘em up or chasing a fly ball where Tony Gwynn chases them or pitching where Randy Myers pitches. OK, so that wasn’t part of your dream.

But there you were at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, all you Eagles and Rams, Buccaneers and Saints, Marauders and Barons.

This was the day the kids played while the big boys were away. This was the CIF San Diego Section championship tripleheader, eight hours of peach fuzz and fantasies.

You Eagles and Buccaneers and Marauders jumped with joy, just like the Padres did on this very same field. You kids were probably just getting into Little League about then. That was 1984.

You other guys, you Rams and Saints and Barons, you didn’t get a taste of celebrating, but you got a taste of being there. Savor it, baby. It’s a nice experience.

This triple treat started with lunch . . . Santa Fe Christian vs. Borrego Springs for the 1-A championship.

Santa Fe Christian had never been there before. Poor Borrego was about to become the Minnesota Vikings of 1-A baseball, getting to the big one for the fourth time . . . and losing it.

The triple treat started with a triple threat. SFC--hey, get used to the initials, these guys are champs--had a kid named Andy DeGrassie who drove in the first two runs, threw a shutout and fielded anything hit to his zip code.

And another kid who was a triple threat in a different way, third baseman Ryan (Why Not Ryne?) Flanders. He was point guard in basketball and wide receiver in football and now leadoff and spark plug in baseball. Single, double, stolen base, RBI.

Borrego had something, or someone, to cheer. Shortstop Nate Barling made a diving stop, a la Ozzie, and threw a runner out at first. The public address announcer, in the absence of Jerry Coleman, applauded his outstanding play, thus hanging this day’s version of a star.

But SFC, winner by 4-0, had the most to cheer.

“It was just a dream,” said Young Mr. DeGrassie. “It seems this whole year was just a dream.”

Dream on.

And then came a late-afternoon snack, Mission Bay vs. St. Augustine for the 2-A championship.

I started by noticing the leadoff hitters are Sgambelluri for Mission Bay and Giammarinaro for St. Augustine. You wonder if the late-afternoon snack is some sort of pasta and whether it comes with red or white sauce. The Broadcasters’ Union is praying they do not make the major leagues as a second base combination.

The next thing I noticed was that one team was posing for a group picture while the other was running through what sounded like boot camp in right field. If I could have found a parimutuel window, I would have put my money right then on Capt. Dennis Pugh and his Mission Bay Buccaneers.

It would have been a smart bet. Mission Bay had gotten to this game with 6-0, 10-0 and 11-0 victories. This was deja vu, another 6-0 shutout.

One of the reasons no one seems to be able to score against Mission Bay is that you can sneak a steak past a lion easier than you can get a baseball past shortstop J.J. Ibarra. He started two double plays, including the one that ended the game.

Be warned that right field is no place to be late in the afternoon. A fourth-inning drive by Mission Bay’s Chase Lowary disappeared in the sun and became the catalyst for a five-run inning, which put the game away. Lowary himself experienced that same lost feeling when he couldn’t find a soft seventh-inning fly ball by Memo Lopez. Right fielders should have been required to wear face masks.

Under happy to make it to the stadium, include Mission Bay pitcher Manny Castillo. He threw a three-hitter last year and lost. He went a step better with his two-hitter, and that was enough.

“I wanted to get back here so bad,” he said. “I just couldn’t wait.”

Dinner, naturally, was the big guys, Mira Mesa vs. Bonita Vista for the 3-A championship.

Mira Mesa had won the last two championships and was going for, excuse the expression, a three-peat. A lot of Bonita Vista players were born in 1975, the last year the Barons made the finals.

Hopefully for Bonita Vista, it will not have to wait that long for another crack at a title. Mira Mesa had too much of too many folks. Look at the box score and try to pick a player of the game for the Marauders. They all were.

It might have been worse than 8-2 if Mira Mesa had been as opportunistic as it was good. It only scored one run in the first on three hits and two errors. It also had a runner thrown out trying to score from second on a rocket to the right-field wall by Coleman Mullin.

The only Mira Mesa starter who did not get a hit was shortstop David Lundberg, and he just might have another chance. He has three years left in his “contract,” which is more than George Bush can say for sure.

“It feels great,” said Lundberg, who obviously hasn’t been around long enough to have a long-time yearning for this day.

He did say he hopes to be back.

Even the seniors would like to be back, because there are bigger dreams in baseball. They could come in here as Mets or Cardinals or Expos or maybe even Padres.