LODI TEAM TO PLAY IN UTAH
Jeff Takahashi has a group of young fighters who are ready to battle at the next level.
The Lodi 9 and under all-star baseball manager, along with his assistant coaches and 13 ball players, will be making the journey to West Valley City, Utah to play in the Pacific Southwest Regional Tournament. Lodi will play its first game against the Utah squad on Monday at 5 p.m.
Lodi reached the tournament by reaching the championship at the Central California Cal Ripken State Tournament in Clovis last week, losing to the host team to finish with a 32 record.
According to Grant Plath, who is the recreation manager for the Lodi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, the last time a Lodi youth allstar baseball team went to a regional tournament was in the summer of 1990.
“I’m proud of these guys,” said Takahashi of his squad on Tuesday afternoon. “Nobody expected us to do this. We knew in the back of our minds that we had a chance at it. But until you get there, you don’t want to get your hopes up.”
Members of the baseball team, which come from six different Lodi Boosters of Boys/Girls Sports Organization teams, are: Noah Hufford, Drew Tetz, Sean Tetz, Haiden Edwards, Rylan Takahashi, Juan VilloaCeja, Andrew McEntire, Andrew Plath, Eric Munoz, Austin Job, Tanner Grove and Quinton Salustro. Jeff Takahashi’s assistant coaches are Dan Grove and Kris Tetz.
“We’ve been together for the last six to eight weeks now,” said Jeff Takahashi of the players and assistant coaches. “They’ve been awesome.”
In two tournaments the last four weeks, Lodi has posted a 5-2 overall record, with both losses coming at the state tournament. At the district tournament toward the end of last month, Lodi went 2-0.
Two of the strengths for Lodi has been defense and pitching. Takahashi said he has five pitchers he can rely on.
“Our pitching is solid,” Takahashi said.
Defense is what the manager and his assistant coaches stressed for almost two months. That’s what they worked on during Tuesday’s practice at Salas Park. Part of Lodi’s workouts included outfielders fielding fly and ground balls, and then relaying it to the cut-off man, which was the shortstop or second basemen. The infield also worked on routine grounders to each base and situation base-running.
“For us it’s defense,” Takahashi said. “Pitching is a given for us. The defense is the determining factor.”
Takahashi and his assistant coaches have seen the offense take over a game during a state tournament
game against Clovis last week. Behind 9-0, Lodi rallied back to post a 14-9 victory to advance in the winner’s bracket.
“My kids are fighters and never give up,” Takahashi said. “That was the turning point that propelled us to regionals. Their selflessness is also second to none. All these kids are used to playing all the time, but there was little complaining about playing time. They always cheer there teammates on and are ready to play when their number is called.”
The team is also raising money for the trip, which would cover the costs for the players and their families. As of late Wednesday evening, the squad has raised $4,930 of $7,500 needed. The drive to Utah, according to mapquest.com, would take approximately nine hours and 47 minutes if going northbound on Highway 99 through Sacramento, then connecting onto Interstate 80 going through Reno, Nev. and east into Utah.
“We’re trying to help defray the costs,” Takahashi said. “Families were out in Clovis for about a week. Now taking (another) week off to go to Utah. It’s significant expenses; gas, hotels food, activities. We just want to help defray the costs for a lot of these families.”
To contribute to the team’s trip to Utah, visit gofundme.com and type in Lodi into the search engine. The all-star team’s profile page will appear.
Contact reporter Mike Bush at mikeb@lodinews.com. Follow on Twitter: @MBushLodiSports.