History in the making?
Elks-SRV Nationals excited for opportunity in regional tourney

By: RAY RODRIGUEZ
Argus Observer
Sunday, August 2, 2009 12:36 AM PDT

RAY RODRIGUEZ | ARGUS OBSERVER Members of the 15-year-old Elks-SRV National team look onto the field during the eighth inning of the North Oregon state baseball tournament last weekend at Elks Memorial Field in Ontario. The Nationals are headed to Centralia, Wash. today for the regional tournament with an opportunity to earn their first berth into the Babe Ruth World Series in 41 years.

ONTARIO—Perhaps the most telling statement Elks-SRV National head coach Dave Parsons levied toward his team was they were embarking on a journey to establish themselves in the annals of Babe Ruth baseball history.

It has been over 40 years since a 15-year-old team from the valley had earned a trip to the Babe Ruth World Series, and now his group has a golden opportunity to etch their names in the history books.

“It’s amazing. You don’t have many chances to etch your name down in history for anything,” Stars player Austin Tolman said. “We better take advantage while we got it. It would be good if we did. Hopefully we can.”

And for many of the Babe Ruth stars, this will be their last chance to do it, as they will move forward with their athletic careers and look to this moment in time when they get older and reminisce.

Will they be lasting, joyous memories? Or bittersweet memories of a chance that slipped through their fingers?

ADVERTISEMENT

Tolman admits, the pressure is high, but the team relishes situations just like this.

“I think that pressure is going to help us. We are going to want it more and everything and I think that will help,” he said. “This team, we do good under pressure, just like our state final game, there was a ton of pressure. We just came out and did it. We just needed a spark and turned it into a forest fire.”

On fire is what the offense has done so far this season for the district and state champions, as they have posted 217 hits in 486 at-bats for a .447 team batting average. The Nationals have also showed patience at the plate with 121 walks, compared to 44 strikeouts, and have a combined for an on-base percentage of .566.

The Nationals have scored 251 runs in 17 games with Zayne Sather and Shadd Samio leading the offense with a .600 batting average.

Brady Baker leads the team with 37 runs scored and is tied for the team lead in hits with 29.

Leadoff man Rocky Garcia, also leads in the statistical category for the Nationals with 22 singles, 16 walks, 13 stolen bases, and is third on the team with a .632 on-base percentage.

When looking to the regional tournament, Garcia said his team’s focus is primarily on themselves.

“We can only control what we can control, and that is us,” Garcia said. “We just have to go out there and play our game. We have to stay focused and make no errors. The other teams out there are good and our coach believes we can hang with anybody. Right now, I think we are starting to believe what all we can accomplish if we put our minds to it.”

National slugger and catcher, Tony Machuca, who is the captain of the team and has been a catalyst on defense and offense, has gone 29-for-52 in 17 games and leads the team with 33 RBIs and two home runs.

Machuca has been waiting too long get this opportunity.

“I am pretty excited right now, because this is my first time going to regionals,” Machuca said. “I have been looking forward to it since I was about 12-years-old. It’s a big step. We are a pretty good team, so hopefully we can go out there and show some teams how we can play ball.”

All the numbers aside, Samio says his team has yet to show how good they are.

“If we play like we want to and not get ourselves down, I think we can take it,” he said. “We have yet to show how good we can be. Sometimes we can and we need to continue it. There is so much more we can accomplish.”