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Thursday, July 03, 2008

Estancia Bears Going To 9-and-Under World Series

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
       The Estancia Bears are headed to the 9-and-under World Series.
    But let’s get some of the basics straight prior to continuing.
    n The Bears, not the Torrance County Titans, won the coin flip that decided the Moriarty Baseball League 10-and-under, Willie Mays-division league tournament title on June 21.
    n The MBL is a local league within the American Amateur Baseball Congress.
    n AABC is not associated with Little League, and Little League is not a generic term for youth baseball.
    Estancia coach Frank Cantu and Titans coach James Giron had planned to combine their teams under Torrance County’s moniker for the state 9U Jackie Robinson tournament, which was to be played last week at Moriarty’s sport complex. The pair had thus opted for the game of chance.
    But after the flip, many of the Torrance County parents protested. Then, it was decided that both MBL teams would compete at state, but the Titans were unable to field a full team.
    So, as of Tuesday, the Bears, who took state because they were the only team to show up for the so-called single-age 9U state tournament, will be the team that represents MBL and New Mexico at the 9U World Series in Tulsa, Okla, on July 15-20.
    “It wasn’t the Estancia parents who complained,” Cantu said. “It was the Titans’ parents. I had talked to my parents. I told them, ‘We’re going with a 7-and-7 split with the Titans.’ My parents knew what we were going to do. Now, we’re taking all of our kids and four of their players and their coach.”
    “We are the state champs, and we are going to the World Series,” Cantu added. “And we’re going as the Estancia Bears. We’re excited. We’ll find a way to get our kids there. But we’ve got a lot of fundraising to do between now and then.”
    The four Titans-turned-Bears include Carlos Parra, Julius Giron, Tarren Sandy and Ezekiel Tapia.
    Sandy broke his nose in the Torrance County-Estancia 10U game, a 21-20 win for the Bears on June 21. James Giron said the boy, who fractured his nose in two places, was to undergo surgery this week.
    “My team (Torrance County) had a lot of issues this year,” Giron said. “The main head coach was Greg Alexander, but he wasn’t able to coach this year so I took over at the beginning of the year. Then we had a good season, but a lot of the parents were upset about playing time and the positions of their kids. And they didn’t understand that it was better to save them (from playing in the 10U league title “if” game). They wanted the trophy instead of saving the kids for state.”
    Next year is another matter altogether.
    “That’s up in the air,” Giron said. “Next year is a long ways away. Right now, we just want to go to the World Series and show them what a small-town team can do. I wish it would have worked out better for everybody. But you can’t make everybody happy, no matter how hard you try. You just try to do what’s best for the whole team, not for individuals.”
    If you are interested in sponsoring the Bears’ World Series trip, call Cantu at 908-0125.
   
    Roberto Clemente
    The Estancia Shockers were the runners-up at the AABC state 8U tournament, which was played at Moriarty’s sports complex last week.
    Coach Antonio Chavez’s boys beat the Santa Fe Reds 9-2 in a first-round game before falling to the eventual-champions, the Santa Fe Mad Dogs, 10-2 and 15-6 in the semifinal and championship rounds.
    “In both games, they beat us at the end,” Chavez said. “They got some hits and we couldn’t get them.”
    The Shockers were crowned the local league champions on June 21.
    “It was great at state,” Chavez continued. “We ended up with a pretty solid team.
    Often, the top two teams from state are invited to the South Plains regional tournament. The 2008 competition is set for next week, Monday through July 12 in Bartlesville, Okla.
    “It’s still kind of up in the air whether we go or not,” Chavez said Monday. “I don’t know what AABC is going to decide.”
   
    More Willie Mays
    The Moriarty Vipers, coached by Denny Young, took third place at the AABC 10U state tournament in Las Cruces last week.
    The Vipers, who played up against 12U teams during the regular season, defeated the Las Cruces Storm 4-2 and the Las Cruces Desert Dragons 26-4 in the early rounds. They subsequently fell 14-8 to the Las Cruces Dodgers and were eliminated by the El Paso Orioles 12-4.
    “Now, we’re going up to Breckenridge (Colo.) for the Super Series national championships at the end of July,” Young said. “I think we’re doing well. They’re starting to learn how to play baseball.”
    The Moriarty Yankees, according to their skipper, Tebby Castillo, elected not to go to Las Cruces.