Thunder rolls: Bel Passi 10s clinch Northern California baseball title

Kelly Wheelock doesn’t want his Bel Passi Thunder baseball team to wake up 15 years from now and realize their playing careers peaked one magical summer as 10-year-olds.

The game should be fun, he says, even when the stakes are as high as they are right now.

Bel Passi successfully defended its Northern California championship, outscoring San Francisco Youth 34-14 in back-to-back games in the final round. The clinching performance came Monday evening at the George Costa Ball Field Complex in Ceres.

The Thunder erupted for five runs in the second inning, giving starter Derek Osgood plenty of support in an 8-2 victory.

The Thunder returns to the West Zone Championships on Thursday in Los Alamitos, looking to atone for a subpar performance a year ago as 9-year-olds.

Bel Passi went 2-2 to finish fifth overall and lost a 3-2 decision to William S. Hart of Santa Clarita, the eventual world champions. The nucleus of that team is back, fueling the Thunder’s recent roll through the Pony League postseason.

Bel Passi is 35-6-1 and opens the West Zone Championships – the qualifying tournament for the Pony World Series in Louisiana – against the Utah state champion.

“The big thing is, we know the competition level is going to be pretty intense,” Wheelock said. “Sometimes when you go to regional or section tournaments, there may be a team or two where you’re like ‘They’re OK, no big worry.’ When you get to this level, those eight teams are there because they’ve won their state or regional championship. The competition will be extremely high.”

Bel Passi is no stranger to adversity. The Thunder took the long road through the Super Regional, navigating the loser’s bracket with six consecutive wins.

“You always want to win,” Wheelock said, “but to come back from losing that first game and rattle off six straight wins? That doesn’t happen often at this age.”

He said the do-or-die pressure doesn’t faze this group, which has tackled each pickle with a smile and care-free swagger.

The Thunder was banished to the loser’s bracket following a 5-4 loss to Paso Robles Red in their opener. Bel Passi committed four errors and gave up a one-run lead in the sixth.

“That was one of the roughest games we’ve played,” said Wheelock, the former Modesto Christian skipper.

The loss didn’t change the Thunder’s approach. Bel Passi skunked Toro 10-0 and then ousted the North Bay Admirals (4-3), host Ceres Blaze (5-2) and Fremont Pony (6-2) to reach the championship round.

Once there, Bel Passi left no doubt, scoring 34 runs on 38 hits in two games.

Five players had at least two hits in Monday’s series-clinching win, including Osgood, Titus Wheelock, Andrew Balentine, Jadon Aguilar and Ethan Macias.

Balentine slapped a two-run single during the decisive second inning and finished with three RBIs, while Macias drove in a pair. Osgood gave up one run on six hits in four strong innings. He fanned four.

“This is a special group,” Wheelock said. “They compete and they battle, and more importantly, they have fun doing it. You can’t teach kids to compete and still realize it’s just a game. They don’t play for their parents or their grandparents or their coaches. They play for the guy next to them and they have fun. That’s the approach we’ve been taking.

“At 10, you don’t see that too often, but they’re buying into it.”

Wheelock credits the Thunder fans for keeping a loose environment. Wheelock has coached and played at several levels and has watched players buckle beneath the weight of pressure created by coaches, families and friends.

“I got the best group of parents and that plays a huge role in what we’ve got going and what we’ve been doing,” Wheelock said. “We just want to have fun doing this, and if we can do that, we know we have a shot at winning.”

This story was originally published July 28, 2015 at 7:40 PM with the headline "Thunder rolls: Bel Passi 10s clinch Northern California baseball title."