Sarasota Babe Ruth 15 Alll-Stars lose, eliminated from Southeast Regional tournament
SARASOTA - The performance of the three Sarasota Babe Ruth All-Star teams at this year's Southeast Regional should send a message to future players who will wear the Sarasota uniform.
It's not the uniform. It's the player wearing the uniform.
The loss of the Sarasota 15s to Arlington on Saturday, knocking head coach Mike Marquez's team from the tourney, made it three up and three down for the Sarasota representatives. The 14s were eliminated last week at their regional, the 13s on Friday, and the 15s by a 4-3 decision to Arlington at the Guy Smith Stadium Complex in Greenville, N.C., in a game Sarasota had to win for a shot at qualifying for Sunday's semifinals.
But, once again, errors on routine plays sealed Sarasota's fate. Had his team played to its capabilities, Marquez has little doubt it would have finished the tournament with a 4-0 record. Instead, the 15s limped back to Sarasota with an underachieving 1-3 mark. The 13s, 14s, and 15s combined to go 3-8, hardly representative of the reputation the area has for strong youth baseball.
On more than one occasion, Sarasota players were accused of lacking focus, as if the name on their uniform somehow would guarantee automatic success. Perhaps, if anything, it made Sarasota's opponents even more determined and engaged.
A microcosm of the regional for all three Sarasota teams helped Arlington break a scoreless deadlock against the 15s.
With two out in the top of the third inning, Arlington’s Drew Welch got on first via a hit off Sarasota starter Jackson Smith. With Cameron Hershey at the plate, a Smith throw over to first baseman Luke Duffy had Welch picked off.
But as the Arlington second baseman took off for second, Duffy’s throw to second baseman Luca Meehan covering the base was wide and ricocheted off Meehan’s glove into the outfield. The deflection sent the ball past Sarasota center fielder Stephen Commander, who was backing up the play.
By the time Commander retrieved the ball, Welch had come all the way around to score, giving Arlington an unearned run and 1-0 lead. Following a single and a walk, Arlington’s Patrick Mellett hit a deep fly ball to center that Commander, after a long run, lost in the sun. Two more unearned runs scored for a 3-0 Arlington lead.
“My big horse (Smith) was about to get out of that inning,” lamented Marquez. “Seven pitches, and it turned into a 20-pitch inning.”
Both teams exchanged runs, and Arlington took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth. Sarasota scored two runs, cutting the lead to 4-3, and had the bases loaded with two out, but couldn’t capitalize.
And in the seventh, again with two out, a Sarasota single, stolen base, and passed ball had the tying run at third base. But that’s where he stayed.
“He was right there (at third),” Marquez said. “We could have tied it in the bottom of the seventh. Just couldn’t get him in.”
In only one game, a 9-3 victory over Greenville, Sarasota’s lone win in the tournament, did errors not factor into the outcome. But far too often, they did.
“It was not our best defense,” Marquez said. “Definitely made an impact. If we weren’t hitting, it just made it more difficult. We come all this way, and I know how good of a baseball team we are. I definitely expected to perform better than 1-3.”
The last time a Sarasota Babe Ruth team won a regional title was in 2017. Coach Dave Million took the 15s to the World Series that year in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. The year before, Million had taken the 14s to the World Series in Westfield, Mass.
Future Sarasota Babe Ruth players, take note. To get to where Million’s clubs went, performing as these three Sarasota teams did won’t do it.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota Babe Ruth 15s lose, eliminated from Southeast Regional
