The Santa Barbara Riptide won its third consecutive tournament last weekend, knocking off Team Alliance 4-3 to avenge an earlier loss to them and to win the USSSA Power 12 Championship.
With the win the Riptide earned a berth to the USSSA World Series in Southern California later this year.
Santa Barbara jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one inning of play. Jack Deardorff led off the game reaching safely on an error and Tommy Holguin followed with a single to left. Mason Boelter reached on an error, moving Deardorff to third and Holguin to second. Dominic Roderick singled to plate Deardorff and Chase Mayer hit a 1-2 pitch in the left center-field gap to clear the bases.
The Santa Barbara Riptide baseball team won the Power-12 Tournament title.
The Riptide sent their ace Tommy Holguin to the mound and he did not disappoint. Holguin pitched six innings, allowing only one run, three hits and striking out five. Santa Barbara called on Trevor Garcia to close it out. With the tying run on third, Garcia blew a fastball by the Alliance hitter to strike him out looking to preserve the win.
The Riptide started the day by beating a tough Trojan team 6-4. Vince Vogel was spectacular on the mound for Santa Barbara going 5 1/3 innings, scattering five hits and striking out five Trojan batters.
The Riptide trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the third when Vogel drew a walk and stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Toby Spach bunted for a hit, scoring Vogel, and Tommy Holguin hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Spach, putting the Riptide up 2-1. The Riptide held a 4-1 lead heading into the final inning when the Trojans scored three runs to tie the score.
Holguin led off the bottom of the inning by reaching safely on an error. That brought Mason Boelter to the plate. Boelter hit a 1-2 pitch deep to right for a game-winning two-run homer.
In the semifinals the Riptide faced off against the SoCal Bruin. The Riptide wasted little time putting away the Bruins, erupting for 11 runs in the second inning to win going away 13-0 by way of the mercy rule. Chase Mayer was magnificent on the mound, pitching three scoreless innings, allowing only two hits and striking out four. Noah Martinez and Tommy Holguin each had two hits and five RBIs between them.
Santa Barbara played amazing defense all weekend long, highlighted by a diving play in the hole by Bryan Rivera in the championship game. Toby Spach threw out three runners from behind the plate in two games and made two incredible catches in left field.
The Riptide is playing the best baseball it has ever played and it couldn’t come at a better time as the team prepares to head off to Arizona next month for the Arizona Spring Championships.
The Riptide is managed by John Jensen and Coaches Tommy Holguin and Joe Holguin. The team consists of: Mason Boelter, Jack Deardorff, Miles Enos, John Givans, Trevor Garcia, Jackson Hamilton, Tommy Holguin, Zach Jensen, Jaden LyBurtus, Noah Martinez, Chase Mayer, Cooper Owens, Dominic Roderick, Bryan Rivera, Toby Spach and Vince Vogel.
