FAMILY TIES
Five fathers will coach their sons in the state baseball tournament
The names represent the family ties.
The sport represents the blood ties. For some fathers and sons, the start of the high school state baseball tournament is the end of a long — diamond-encrusted, if you will— road together. Or, it’s a continuation. Or, it’s a beginning.
Under any interpretation, the playoffs figure to resonate quite emotionally for these five dads and their offspring.
Marc and Miles
Miles Hilton is a senior third baseman at St. Pius, although in truth the Sartans can plug him in most anywhere. His father, Marc, has been the St. Pius head coach for 16 years and was an assistant prior to that. He has watched Miles grow up and blossom on that West Side field, from infant in a stroller, to bat boy, to promising future collegian.
And sometime in the next few days, this chapter of their journey together will conclude.
“I think about it all the time,” Marc said. “We’ve been very close, and sports is attributable to that.”
Like a couple of others in this story, Marc Hilton never sought to coach his son at a younger age, instead waiting him to arrive at high school. The two are highly invested in one another, in every way.
“You want to make him look as good as you do yourself,” Miles said.
There is comfort, Miles said, in having his father so close — pushing him and testing him, all within a loving structure.
“Knowing he’s always there,” Miles said, “takes the pressure off. Maybe in earlier years, it was harder to adapt (to playing for him), but once I got into it, it’s just another day of work.
“I am held to a higher standard,” he added, “and that’s the way it should be.”
Marc Hilton said he has asked
more of his child than probably anyone else in St. Pius black and gold.
“He had to have a better attitude, and work harder than everyone else,” Marc said. “Early on, I was definitely a lot harder on him. I wanted the players to know that he would not get special treatment, that he was like everyone else.”
Both acknowledge the difficulty this last playoff run will bring.
“It’s gonna be emotional,” Miles Hilton said. St. Pius is a No. 3 seed in the Class 5A state tournament and meets No. 14 Santa Teresa in the first round this weekend. “I’ve been there all my life. I don’t know anything different.”
Miles Hilton signed last week with Cochise (Ariz.) Junior College. Cochise, ironically enough, is where both La Cueva head coach Gerard Pineda and Cleveland head coach Shane Shallenberger — two other dads in today’s tale — played college ball together.
“I want to cherish every moment we still have,” Miles said. “I’ll try to make every moment last.”
Chris and Christopher
Atrisco Heritage pitcher/outfielder Christopher Trujillo is the only other senior on today’s list, but this will be his first — and only — state tournament with his father Chris, the Jaguars’ head coach.
“It’s demanding,” Christopher said of playing for his father, “but at the same time, it’s really fun.”
Atrisco Heritage baseball is, more than most, a daily family reunion. Two of Chris’ brothers, Frankie and Anthony, are assistant coaches, and both have sons on the Jaguars’ varsity roster, Vicente and Joseph. Chris’ father Valentin is a former head baseball coach at Magdalena.
Chris Trujillo is a Rio Grande product and is in his first playoffs as Atrisco’s head coach. The 12thseeded Jags take No. 5 seed Cleveland in the first round today.
Chris first coached his son when Christopher was 7. While the Hiltons have had several postseason dances together, the Trujillos will only have this one to enjoy side by side.
“It’s very gratifying,” Chris Trujillo said. “Growing up, he didn’t always have the best teams. I told him to be patient, that we’ll get there eventually. It’s a tremendous feeling for me.”
Of course, their relationship, like any father-son/coach-athlete duo, can be turbulent.
“I’ve had to pull back,” the coach said with a smile, asked about his treatment of his son. “Sometimes the ride home is tough. My wife sometimes kind of has to give me the look, to make sure I don’t ride him too hard.”
Christopher’s playoffs take on added significance because he has no plans to play in college. He wants to study biology in college.
“I just want to make the most of these few games and cherish them,” he said.
“It’s going to be a little weird driving to school next year and he’s not there,” Chris said.
Shane and Treston
Treston Shallenberger is a freshman shortstop for Cleveland, but this will be his second state tournament with his father, Shane, the Storm head coach.
“It’s absolutely an honor to coach my own son,” Shane said. “We can look at each other and get a point across just with looks. We have an unspoken language. I know where he’s at all the time, and he knows where I’m at all the time.”
Many fathers who have coached their son will probably understand the following anecdote, as Shane Shallenberger discusses the inherent challenges in coaching one’s son and finding a balance that preserves the relationship without disrupting team harmony.
“All sons,” Shane said firmly, “know it all. Sometimes we have to have a heart-to-heart.”
Shallenberger has been a regular in the Storm lineup since the start of his eighth-grade season. He suffered a knee injury playing football last fall and missed more than half of this season as he recovered. But he is a steady presence for Cleveland.
“I enjoy being around him,” Treston said. “And I enjoy him coaching me and sharing knowledge with me.
“He treats everyone the same, so there’s not really any challenges. If we have a bad loss, when we get home he’s still a little ticked off, but that’s probably the only bad thing.”
Like Hilton, Shallenberger preferred to let other men handle the coaching of his son in the younger leagues.
“I tried never to overstep my boundaries, because I knew someday I’d get that opportunity at the high school level,” he said.
Outside the Storm’s nifty facility, baseball is less of a talking point.
“We just get our business done at the field,” Treston said.
Shane said he is no harder on Treston than any Storm athlete, but confessed he is often self-aware of how this delicate relationship needs to function.
“There are times,” he said, “when I’ll ask another coach to talk to him.”
Gerard and Jack
Gerard Pineda, La Cueva’s coach, has a long history with Chris Trujillo and Marc Hilton, as he competed against both in high school — Pineda with the Bears, Hilton with Sandia, Trujillo with Rio Grande.
His son, Jack, is a sophomore and the Bears’ starting shortstop. And, in a sense, son and father occupy the same baseball brain.
“He knows the game really, really well,” Gerard Pineda said. “He knows the game almost as well as I do.”
To that end, Jack was asked for his input last weekend when Gerard was filling out his coach’s sheet listing his top 16 seeds for the state tournament.
Naturally, there are bumps; to that end, Chris Trujillo’s wife is not the only peacekeeper. Pineda’s wife, Bridget, has to rein both husband and son in on occasion.
“At the end of the day,” Jack said, “both of us want to win games. We are extremely competitive.”
Jack has an advanced perspective on his role as a La Cueva player versus his role as Gerard’s son. He clearly gets what it is to be a coach’s kid.
“There are times he gets mad,” Jack said, “but most of the time, I bring that on myself. My expectations for me exceed his expectations for me. But most of the time, we’ll be on the same page.”
Jack was a longtime La Cueva bat boy, like Miles Hilton was for St. Pius, and through his middle school years, he was a fixture on the La Cueva field. He played sparingly as a freshman, but missed the second half of the year with an elbow injury and didn’t get to compete at state.
La Cueva plays host to Mayfield in the first round of the 6A playoffs starting today.
“I’m looking forward to it, for sure,” Gerard said. “Knowing I’m going to be writing my son’s name on the lineup card is a special moment as a dad.”
The Bears are one of many teams in the 6A field that are thought to be serious contenders for the title.
“Hopefully,” Jack said, “we can make this a little more special by coming out with a blue trophy.”
Del Norte is one of the pleasant stories of this year’s state baseball playoffs. The Knights not only are in the postseason for the first time in about a decade, but this is the first tournament appearance for Knights coach Ben White.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs,” White said, laughing. “Well, a lot of downs. A few ups.”
White has two sons going with him to face Goddard in the first round of the 5A bracket: sophomore Shade, an outfielder, and freshman Hudson, a pitcher/outfielder.
“To have a season where it’s the best at Del Norte since I’ve been there, and have them be a part of it, it’s a special time,” coach White said.
The most interesting times these three share? Probably that 45-minute, post-practice drive home to Rio Rancho, where they live.
“They’re gonna hear the higher expectations (talk), the higher standards that I expect,” Ben said, smiling. “It’s the de-briefing of the day.”
Said Shade: “I gotta play hard every day and strive to be greater than most players on the team, or I don’t get a ride home.” Hudson concurred. “He’ll get as mad at us as any other player,” he said.
Del Norte is not expected to last long in these playoffs, but this could be the first of several state tournament trips this trio shares together.
“I’m excited we’re going to state as a team,” Shade White said, “and I’m excited to have family there.”
Ben White got a little nostalgic as he remembered how his boys got their start in baseball, going back to his days in the Coast Guard when they lived in Virginia.
“They hit bottle caps with broomsticks in the garage,” Ben said. When was this?
“When they were 2 years old,” he said, smiling.