Local Team Travels To Arizona To Play Baseball
By John Paul Bergh
The 12 & Under Aptos Aces packed their bags and travelled to Arizona to compete against the best teams from the Phoenix area last weekend.
Coach John Paul Bergh talks to the players.
Normally, the team would play locally and over the hill at locations such as Twin Creeks in Sunnyvale or travel as far as Big League Dreams in Manteca. Because youth baseball is not allowed to be played in California due to COVID-19, the Aces found themselves flying on planes (some for the first time) and riding in cars across state lines to play baseball.
The boys had little time to prepare and get ready for the tournament because it was only greenlighted several weeks before by the health authorities. The players had to take all of the same precautionary measures that Major League Baseball undertakes to have a safe season. Hand sanitizer, not sharing equipment, face mask requirements and social distancing were all adhered to and enforced by the tournament director in Arizona.
The Aces proved up to the task of playing baseball in a pandemic as they battled another foe before the games even started: Arizona heat.
Aptos Aces — Top Row (from left): Finn “Wild Card” Cormier, Derek “D-Rock” Allen, Luke “Shoe” Shoemaker, Dylan “Punisher” DiPalma, JJ “Nails” Hall, Nicolaus “Hollywood” Bjorn. • Bottom row (from left): Chris “Ushy” Ushakoff, BatBoy Ryder “Frosty” Bergh, Evan “Baller” Vessey, Kelton “K-Pop” Forbus, Dylan “RIP” Bergh. • Photo Credit: John Paul Bergh
The Aces played hard through unrelenting 101-degree Arizona heat during pool play the Saturday of the tournament. The first game was at 2 p.m. and it was so hot that the players made jokes about frying an egg on the dugout floor. After acclimating to the heat, the Aces played well. Derek “D-Rock” Allen started on the mound for the Aces and pitched them to a 5-2 lead through 4 innings of play. JJ “Nails” Hall was the catcher for “D-Rock” and the pair played extremely well together.
Finn “Wild Card” Cormier started on the mound in the second game for the Aces with Kelton “K-Pop” Forbus doing the catching. “Wild Card’s” velocity, speed changes and curveballs froze batters in their place. Luke “Shoe” Shoemaker came in for relief and pitched excellent for the team with a fastball with movement, spinning curveball and a change up that caught batters off guard. After the first two games Saturday, the bracket was set for the next day, Championship Sunday.
Starting for the Aces in the semifinal game was Dylan “RIP” Bergh with Kelton “K-Pop” Forbus behind home plate. Aptos relied on offensive firepower from Chris “Ushy” Ushakoff, Finn “Wild Card” Cormier and Evan “Baller” Vessey to jump to a head start with the lead in the game. “D-Rock” chimed in with two inside-the-park home runs that were hit all the way to the 310-foot fenceline. The offensive production proved to be all the Aces needed as they enjoyed a complete game performance for the semifinal victory from “RIP” on the mound.
The Aptos Aces started the Championship game with their “Ace” pitcher Derek “D-Rock” Allen pitching again to JJ “Nails” Hall. The heat and the long Sunday started to wear on the team as they missed routine plays defensively and gave up six unearned runs during the first three innings. After four innings, the Aces were down 10-3 and facing elimination.
Then something started to change. The sun went down, the temperature dropped and the lights started to hum as they illuminated the field.
The Aces, as the home team, got to bat last. Wasting no time, Dylan “Punisher” DiPalma started off the rally with a line drive base hit. Luke “Shoe” Shoemaker reached base safely as Nicolaus “Hollywood” Bjorn followed suit by putting the ball in play and hustling to first. Kelton “K-Pop” Forbus contributed an uncharacteristic walk to make it to first base. Dylan “RIP” Bergh put the ball in play with a line drive over second base to advance the runners. Chris “Ushy” Ushakoff lined a single to right centerfield and JJ “Nails” Hall, reached first base safely. Finn “Wild Card” Cormier got a single to make it to first base.
All of a sudden, the Aces were down just one run with the score at 10-9 with runners on first and second base. The player who started the rally was up to bat again with a chance to win the game. Dylan “Punisher” DiPalma took full advantage of the opportunity and hit a ball to left field so hard it looked like it was shot out of a cannon.
The ball sailed over the left fielder’s head and Finn “Wild Card” Cormier was waved around third base to score the winning, walk-off championship run for the Aptos Aces. Chaos ensued as the Aces rushed the middle of the infield to celebrate “Punisher’s” big hit!
“The kids just seemed to come back to life after the temperature dropped and the lights turned on,” said home plate umpire Santiago Ramirez as he flipped the game winning ball to the coaches after the game.
Top Photo: The Aptos Aces show off their championship rings.