Thu Sep 02 2010
By TIM McDONOUGH
For the first time ever, Defiance will be hosting a Little League sanctioned state tournament when the Little League 11-year-old State Championship gets underway on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at Defiance's Kingsbury Park.
The good news for the Defiance 11-year-old sanctioned team is that it will be competing on its home field for the tournament, after defeating Maumee two games to one in its best-of-three series at districts. Defiance will be representing District 10 at the 10-team tournament.
A year ago, Defiance finished fourth at the Little League 9-10 State Championship at Cambridge. In all, seven of the 10 teams that competed at state last year will be in the field this year at Defiance, including last year's 9-10 state champion North Canton, runner-up Wheelersburg, Mount Vernon, which finished third, as well as Hamilton West Side, Cuyahoga Falls North and Poland.
Other teams making their way to Defiance include Clyde, Ashtabula and Washington Court House.
Oscar Jimenez is the manager of a Defiance squad that is excited to be playing at home for a chance at a state championship.
"It's big. It's big for the boys to be playing here at home, it's big for the community and everyone is just very excited," said Jimenez. "For the kids to have the chance to play for a state title on the same field they play all year on is something they're really looking forward to. The best thing is, they're ready to go."
Jimenez, who is getting help from assistant coach Alex Menendez as well as Scott Taylor, Eric Borton and Martin Martinez, likes the make-up of his team. According to the Defiance manager, nine of the 11 players on the roster can pitch, it's a team that hits the ball well, plays outstanding defense and generally never gets rattled.
"When you've got nine pitchers, that's a big advantage in a tournament like this, especially when you're dealing with pitch counts like we have in Little League," Jimenez said. "There's a lot of strategy that goes into how you handle your pitchers and that's really something you have to try and plan ahead of time.
"What I really like about this team is that there were times when we fell behind at districts, but the kids never folded and came up and hit the ball," added Jimenez. "Defensively we can move kids around and not miss a beat and I'll tell you what, when pressure has been put on this team, they've performed. There's no give-up in this team ... I'm really proud of these guys."
A probable line-up for Defiance for its first game on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Poland/North Canton contest would be: Austin Taylor batting lead-off and playing second base, Braden Frederick batting second and playing third base, Charlie Gordon batting third and pitching and Trevor Martinez batting clean-up and playing first base.
Batting fifth and playing left field would be Fernando Chavez, Jr., Mark Thomas would bat sixth and play catcher, Bryce Borton would bat seventh and play center field, Michael Menendez would play shortstop and bat eighth and Santiago Ramirez would play right field and bat ninth.
Not only is Jimenez and his team excited about playing, but the team is also looking forward to the atmosphere and what the entire experience of being a part of the tournament will bring.
"Dave Maxey and all of the people running this are putting together a first-class tournament and experience, not only for the kids, but for everyone who is going to be here," said Jimenez. "With everything that's going to take place here in addition to baseball, it would be hard to find anyone who isn't going to enjoy this."
Of course Jimenez would love to see his team win a state championship, but no matter what happens, he knows that Defiance should be proud of what he believes are a great group of boys.
"When you coach a group of kids like this, it's just awesome because they listen so well and are very respectful," concluded Jimenez. "If you ask them to do something, they say 'yes sir,' or 'yes coach,' and you have to give their parents credit for that. These kids make it so easy for all of us coaches and I couldn't be prouder of any of them."
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