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Led by a strong group of returning starters, the El Centro Yankees were able to use that excess experience to become the undefeated Junior League Tournament of Champions champion on Saturday.
“We have seven 14-year-olds that came back this year and they led this team,” Yankees head coach Victor Iribe said. “We had some tough games, but in the end the kids pulled through and proved they were the best team.”
The Yankees won three games to reach the finals were they would beat the Brawley Dodgers, 13-3, to be crowned champions.
The Yankees were the top-seeded team heading into the tournament after only losing two regular season games.
One of the returnees for the Yankees was 14-year-old Jose Morales. He knew that this was his team’s year.
“We dominated and showed we were the better team. Brawley was tough but we just played better.” Morales said. “We played great; we played the way we were supposed to.”
The Yankees had some key performances during the tournament as Louie Garcia pitched a complete game, tallying nine strikeouts and only allowing two hits.
On the hitting side, Lorenzo Silva hit .763 with 12 RBIs in the tournament.
This group of players has been together for a few years and has competed in TOC tournaments before
“We had a lot of experience on this team from past TOC games and we just felt good, we weren’t nervous about any games,” Morales said. “This was our last TOC tournament and we all wanted to win this one. I’m happy that we did it together before high school.”