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San Antonio Independent School District Tournament
WHEN: THURSDAY-SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 24, 25
Thursday, Feb 23, 2012:
1. Field #1 - @ 7:30 PM versus Burbank Bulldogs. (Eagles are visitors.)
SCORE: EAGLES 04 BURBANK 04
Friday, Feb 24, 2012:
2. Field #2 - @ 12:00 NOON versus Highlands Owls. (Eagles are visitors.)
SCORE: EAGLES 04 HIGHLANDS 04
Saturday Feb 25, 2011:
3. Field #1 - @ 9:30 AM (Eagles are visitors.)
SCORE: EAGLES 01 EDISON 01
Saturday Feb 25, 2011:
4. Field #1 - @ 2:30 PM (Eagles are home team.)
SCORE: ROOSEVELT 11 EAGLES 01 Roosevelt wins consolation bracket.
WHERE: SAISD SPORTS COMPLEX (adjacent to Burbank High School) 1000 Edwards, San Antonio, Texas
Click here for driving directions.
16 TEAMS: Akins, Brackenridge, Brennan, Burbank, Edison,
Fox Tech, Highlands, Sam Houston, Jefferson, Kennedy, Lanier, Lee, Floresville, Roosevelt, Southwest,
Steele
ADMISSION:
General admission: $4.00
Student with school ID: $2.00
Tournament pass: $8.00
TOURNAMENT STYLE: 16 teams. Each team is guaranteed a minimum of 3 games.
TOURNAMENT RULES:
Games will be played with a time limit, except for the championship game.
Eight run rule after 4 innings.
“Drop dead” rule after 2 hours. Score reverts to last completed inning.
DUGOUT ASSIGNMENTS: Home team uses third base dugout.
AWARDS: Trophies for:
Championship bracket: 1st, 2nd, 3rd place. Consolation bracket: 1st place
RESULTS & COMMENTARY:
GAME 1. Behind the pitching of Daniel Lopez, the Eagles held the Burbank Bulldogs to four
runs. Nevertheless, the Eagles trailed until late in the game. With only two minutes left under tournament rules, the Eagles were able to start the 6th inning, and designated hitter Andrew Montague
singled and then scored in that inning to knot the game at 4 runs apiece. The relief pitching of Jonathan Espinoza in the bottom of the 6th kept the Bulldogs from breaking the tie. With time expired, the score remained 4-4. It counts as a tie, but for tournament purposes, one team must advance. The tie-breaker was reverting to the last inning for which the score was not tied. Using that criterion, Burbank went to the tournament’s winner’s bracket, and the Eagles went to the losers’ bracket.
GAME 2. In the quest for the SAISD Tournament’s Consolation bracket trophy, the Eagles met the Highlands Owls on
Friday at noon on Field 2. In the first round of games onThursday, Highlands had fallen 6-0 to the Steele Knights who
ultimately would compete in the tournamen tchampionship game. The Eagles got off to an early start, leading the Owls 4-1 by the 3rd inning. However, the pitching of starter Tim Jackson
became surprisingly ineffective, and reliever RC Medrano came on in the 3rd. A 3-run 4th inning for the Owls tied the game, while lax base running contributed to the Eagles’s flat
offensive display for the remainder of the game. Eagle bats went flat, too. Half of the Eagles’ hits came in the first inning. Tim Jackson and Daniel Lopez were both 2 for 3 at the plate. Lopez
had 2 RBIs, and it was Rene Castro who scored each time. Jonathan Espinoza joined Rene and Daniel with a 3 for 3 on-base performance.At the end of 6 innings (and with no
time left to start a 7th), the final score remained an eerily familiar 4-4 tie. This time, the Eagles benefitted from the same
tournment rule that had sent them to the consolation bracket on the previous evening. The Owls will play an inconsequential
game and go home. The Eagles remain alive for a shot at the consolation prize and will play at 9:30 AM on Saturday on Field #1.
GAME 3. By game time at 9:30 AM, the temperature in San Antonio was 15 degrees warmer than it had been at Akins High
School when the Eagles stepped on the bus. It still wasn’t warm! The Eagles faced the Edison Bears, who had lost in the first round to the team of eventual tournament championship semi-finalists Brennan. Eagles pitcher
Jonathan Espinoza pitched an impressive complete 7-inning game against the Bears, but still couldn’t claim the win, because the Eagles tied for an incredible third time, this time with a final score of 1-1.
Espinoza recorded 6 strikeouts, while giving up only 4 hits. Twice he sent Bears outfielder Jon Martinez to 1st base with a base-on-balls, but those were the only walks he dispensed. Eagle bats
tapped out 4 hits, 2 of them by Daniel Lopez. Once again, tournament rules were invoked to break the tie, and for the
second time, the Eagles were holding the bigger piece of the wishbone. They will go on to the consolation finals at 2:30 PM on Field #1.
GAME 4. The Eagles met the Roosevelt Rough Riders in the final game of the consolation competition for the 2012 SAISD
Baseball Tournament. After three games as the visitors, the Eagles finally got to be the home team. They brought their white
jerseys for the occasion, but it seems the only jerseys Roosevelt brought were white. To avoid visual confusion, the Eagles wore their road jerseys in the home dugout. That shouldn’t have made any difference at all. What did make a difference was
that the Rough Riders simply brought a higher level of competition to the ballpark on Saturday afternoon than did the Eagles.
Both teams could have been expected to be deep into their pitching. Akins used three pitchers in the 7-inning game, including
one who was seeing his first action of the young season. Roosevelt pitcher Luke Perez worked from the mound for the entire
game. That was a noticeable difference. Another difference was the offense. The Eagles sent 26 batters to the plate. The Rough Riders sent 41 batters up to face Eagle pitchers RC Medrano, Jared Mendez and
Arthur Gallardo. Roosevelt won the consolation bracket.
The 2012 SAISD Tournament Champions are the Southwest High School Dragons from San Antonio. Southwest was
unbeaten in the tournament and mounted a 7-run 5th inning to defeat the Steele Knights of Cibolo 9-2 in the championship game at 5:00 PM on Saturday. Congratulations to the Dragons.
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