Merced Volunteers hoping momentum carries them in Yountville

Craig Bettis was in middle school the last time the Merced Volunteers won an American Legion state championship. He remembers watching his brother, Cyle, and the rest of his teammates dogpile as they celebrated in Yountville.

Craig Bettis has been waiting to experience that feeling, and this will be his final chance as the Volunteers (25-20) open the American Legion State Tournament on Thursday against the Paramount Pirates at noon at Yountville’s Borman Field.

The six-team, double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday with the winner advancing to the Western Regional Tournament from Aug. 6-10 in Boulder, Colo.

“I want to go out with a bang, that’s for sure,” Bettis said. “This is my fourth year playing with the Vols. I want to experience that dogpile as a player. I want to be part of it.”

Carlo Del Real is wrapping up his fifth and final summer with the Volunteers. He’s seen some crazy things happen at the state tournament.

In his first season in 2011, Merced was forced to forfeit a victory over San Mateo in the semifinals and sent home for using illegal bats, even though the bats were checked before the game by the umpires.

Merced coach Rollo Adams appealed the decision, and it was overturned. The Volunteers were allowed to return to Yountville but lost to Chico in the final.

“I’ve seen a lot of drama in Napa,” Del Real said. “One year, we had guys we played with all summer, but they were ruled ineligible before the state tournament and we could only bring 12 players to Yountville. It handcuffed us. We all know what happened with the bat situation my freshman year. We’ve had some good teams and great chances to win.”

The drama has already started before this state tournament with Area 2 champion San Mateo being ruled ineligible for not paying its insurance by the deadline, then being reinstated. Petaluma, the runner-up to Chico in Area 1, was slotted in to take San Mateo’s place. However, on Monday night, San Mateo was reinstated when it proved a computer glitch caused the delay in its insurance payment.

So, San Mateo will play Edison of Huntington Beach in the first game Thursday at 9 a.m. The late game will feature the defending-champion Chico Nuts against the Long Beach Rams at 3 p.m.

The Volunteers head to Yountville with momentum after winning their last six games, including a sweep of the Area 3 tournament last weekend.

“This team has more talent than any team I’ve played with,” Bettis said. “Hitting, pitching and defense, I think we stack up with any team I’ve played on. It’s like Rollo has told us, ‘You have to get hot at the right time.’ I think we have a lot of momentum right now.”

If possible, Adams has always preferred to hold back on throwing his top pitchers until later in the tournament. The strategy paid off with state championships in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Adams is going away from that strategy this year with former Merced High School ace Mitchell Miller getting the start Thursday and Del Real getting the start in game two Friday. Adams still plans to use one of his top pitchers, Efrain Del Rio, as a closer in the tournament.

“Our pitching staff is a lot deeper than we’ve had,” Del Real said. “That first year I played, we had a deep staff with guys like Mike Nelson and Andrew Jaurique. We’re pretty deep now. This tournament is about pitching. You have to be able to get those outs in the late innings.”

Del Real doesn’t want to see another summer end in Yountville.

“I want to win a state title very bad,” he said. “After that first year with the bat situation, we went 0-2 the next two years and then we finally won a game last year. I want to get to the next level. I’ve experienced Yountville five years now. I want to experience beyond that, not only for the competition but to go to different venues.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 5:08 PM with the headline "Merced Volunteers hoping momentum carries them in Yountville."