With all of its regular varsity pitchers used up, Santa Barbara High’s baseball team turned to junior Lucas Benenati to make his first varsity start on Friday, and it just so happened to be in the championship game of the prestigious Righetti Tournament.
Seven innings later, the junior had himself a complete-game victory as the Dons won the game and the tournament by downing two-time defending champion Deer Valley 11-3.
Benenati settled down after a rocky first inning in which he gave up two runs on four hits. Although he didn’t have overpowering stuff and didn’t record a single strikeout, he found a groove and needed just four pitches to escape the sixth inning. He followed that up with nine pitches in the seventh.
“He just got more and more comfortable as the game went on and the lead was built up,” said assistant coach Mike Cooney.
Santa Barbara was beautifully balanced on offense, as all nine batters got a hit. Pepe Gil had two hits and an RBI, brining his total to 10 RBIs over the last four games. Jack Crummer had a double, a triple and three RBIs while Danny Zandona hit a 3-run double in the fourth to break the game wide open.
“I’d say this was a coming-of-age performance for this team,” said Cooney of the Dons’ tournament run. “It shows steady progress, and we’re using it to ready ourselves for the rest of the league season.”
The Dons (12-1) host San Marcos on Tuesday. Deer Valley is now 8-3 on the year.
SANTA BARBARA 11, DEER VALLEY 3
Santa Barbara…123 400 1 — 11 12 3
Deer Valley…200 010 0 — 3 6 1
Benenati and Eaton. Delgado, Kasprack (3) and Leal. WP — Benenati (1-0), LP — Delgado (0-1).
2B — SB: Crummer, Zandona, Barrett, GV: Baker. 3B — SB: Crummer.
