Rowan Horton, a three-year veteran shortstop with the Nipomo varsity baseball team, said Monday that this Titans team is the youngest he has ever played on.
But after Nipomo's 7-0 8-5 win over the Los Baños Pacheco team on opening day, senior team captain Horton said, “We're not playing like a young team.” A look at the Nipomo tournament.
Horton made a diving catch in the top of the seventh inning to end the game. Nipomo moved to 6-6-1 overall. The Titans are tied for first place in the Ocean League with a 3-0-1 record and Paso Robles.
In last Thursday's game against Nipomo, both teams battled to a 10-10 tie in the 10th inning. The teams will conclude the regular season with a matchup in Paso Robles on May 7th and May 9th.
“I think we can win the league,” said second baseman Austin Jones, the other captain of the Nipomo senior team. In addition to being team captains, Jones and Horton are the only seniors on the Nipomo team.
“We've proven we can beat other teams in the league and should be in good shape heading into the make-up (game) against Paso Robles,” Jones said. At press time, it was unclear when or if the first game between Paso Robles and Nipomo would resume.
At press time, Nipomo was scheduled for a busy tournament day at the park on Tuesday against Torrance Bishop Montgomery at 10 a.m. and Mesa Skyline, Arizona at 1 p.m. The Titans were scheduled to play Wednesday at 4 p.m. The final game of the tournament will be played against Oxnard Channel Islanders.
So far, Nipomo coach Sam Spears said, “He's been swinging the bat pretty well lately” after the Titans showed off their balanced hitting on Monday. Nipomo took a 3-0 lead in the first inning and pulled away from there.
The Titans had 12 hits. The three Nipomo pitchers on Spears' young team worked together to limit the Panthers to four hits.
“It's always nice to win first in a tournament,” Spears said.
“We have seven sophomores and two freshmen,” Spears said. Junior Aiden Willis, one of Nipomo's veteran players, hit a single in the second inning.
Griffin Grosshart, one of the seven sophomores, hit two more runs in the fourth inning. Another sophomore, Travis Barr, hit the final RBI double in the fifth inning.
Ozzie Ortega is a junior and one of the most experienced players on the Nipomo varsity team. The third-year varsity right-hander pitched three shutout innings, and sophomore left-hander Eli Silveira pitched the final two innings.
Although he is also the team's captain, “I think those are the two captains that our young players turn to when they need guidance on pretty much everything,” Grosshart said, glancing at Horton and Jones.
Jones and Horton said the familiarity was a big help for the Titans. Although the team is young in terms of high school players, senior captains say the players have been playing together for quite some time.
“I've been playing with them since Little League and I'm still with them,” Jones said.
Nipomo is scheduled to resume play against Orcutt Academy on April 9th at Nipomo at 4:30 p.m.
Kenny Cress is a sports reporter for the Santa Maria Times, covering local sports in northern Santa Barbara County. You can send him information or story ideas by emailing KCress@SantaMariaTimes.com.
