PIRATES RULE STATE

FRESNO — One and done, Monday may have been too easy for this Orange Coast College baseball team. So perhaps it was fitting that the Pirates’ first state title since 1980 came after yet another dose of adversity.

An 11-10 loss in 11 innings in the first game Monday forced a second championship game against San Joaquin Delta at Fresno City College. And to the surprise of no one who has witnessed this tragic and special season, Coach John Altobelli’s heavy hearted squad responded with a 10-7 triumph that led to a wild, emotional, poignant postgame celebration that included a couple special guests.

Kent and Lee Watanabe, the father and older brother of the late Jourdan Watanabe, a redshirt sophomore catcher who died Feb. 27, were on the field not long after the Pirates’ players piled onto one another near the mound, following the final out.

Kent Watanabe, who delivered an emotionally charged pregame address to the team before the morning contest, hugged every player and coach he could, as did Lee. And both shed tears of joy as they experienced some closure to an unspeakably difficult three months.

“We’ve been a baseball family ever since my two boys started playing, which was 20-plus years ago,” Kent Watanabe said. “It has been a long ride. This was Jourdan’s life and we wanted to make sure we followed through on it.”

Kent Watanabe said Jourdan’s spirit was in the ballpark all weekend, and beyond.

“Absolutely,” he said of his son’s suggested spiritual presence. “He was with this team through the whole season.”

Players flashed two fingers on each hand — signifying Jourdan’s jersey No. 22 — in postgame pictures, and the No. 22 was posted on the scoreboard in the at-bat portion, as parents and supporters took photographs.

Altobelli also donned a blue No. 22 OCC jersey for the postgame awards ceremony, then declared in the team huddle down the right field line that no one would wear No. 22 again, as long as he was the Pirates coach.

“You know [the Watanabe family] was kind of an inspiration behind everything.” Altobelli said. “Kent was working the snack bar and Lee started coming out [to games]. And to have this for them and Jourdan’s mom, Anne, at home … I just hope that it helps some of the healing process.”

Sophomore catcher DJ Arellano, who spent last season being tutored by the All-Orange Empire Conference performer, said he was happy to achieve the goal the team set, which was to win a state crown in Watanabe’s memory.

“All year, it’s been all about the 22,” said Arellano, who was named tournament MVP after going six for 18 with four runs batted in and catching every inning, including all 20 in Sunday’s 90-degree temperatures. “We always asked, ‘What would Jourdan have done? What would Jourdan be saying to us right now?’ And we really looked to that for guidance. I know I’m going to be looking to him for guidance the rest of my life, as long as I’m playing baseball.”

Sophomore Brett Wallach, who opened the scoring in the finale with a two-run triple in the first inning, and closed the game on the mound in the ninth to earn his fourth save, said Kent Watanabe’s pregame address put the team in the right frame of mind.

“That was one of the top three reasons that we wanted to win this thing,” Wallach said. “Obviously we wanted to win for ourselves and our coaches. But [Kent and Lee Watanabe] being here really put us in great mental shape and we wanted to get them a ring.”

Altobelli said the championship rings will have No. 22 on one side.

Momentum sided with Delta after a dramatic, seesaw first game Monday, in which OCC (37-14) overcame deficits of 4-1 and 7-5.

But the Mustangs (34-19) pulled even, 8-8, then scored two in the seventh to erase a 10-8 deficit. A two-out RBI single by catcher Cody Scott in the bottom of the 11th forced the second game.

But Wallach’s triple, which gave him his only two RBIs of the tournament, sparked a three-run first in the second game. And the Pirates tacked on two in the second and three in the third to forge an 8-1 lead.

Freshman left-hander Josh Lee, making only his second start of the season, pitched into the sixth inning and relievers Andy Abrams and Kyle Krogman held the Mustangs off to allow Wallach to close it out.

“[Pitching coach Dave] Bowman looked at me after that first game and said, ‘You know we threw just about everyone we had at them,’ ” Altobelli said. “I told him that’s why we carry all these other pitchers.”

Lee, who allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings, gained the victory, his first decision of the season.

Sophomore second baseman Ryan Dunn, benched for three Super Regional games due to poor performance, but reinserted into the lineup due to what Altobelli called a hunch, was the offensive hero in the clincher.

He went three for four with a solo home run in the eighth that answered a three-run outburst by Delta in the top half of the frame. Dunn scored three runs in the finale and finished seven for 14 with six RBIs and seven runs in the tournament.

Wallach, the Orange Empire and Southern California Player of the Year who is bound for Long Beach State, was nine for 16 with six runs in three games. He also earned the pitching victory Sunday.

Sophomore third baseman Drew Hillman, bound for UC Irvine, and sophomore left fielder Ryan Sheeks both had two hits in the title clincher.

Brothers Mykal and Ricky Stokes each had seven hits in the tournament for OCC.

Freshman Scott Hong hit a solo homer in the finale and he matched Dunn for the team high in runs with seven for the tournament.

Shortstop Beck Wheeler, and pitchers Chris Licon and Brett Williams were additional stalwarts during the tournament.

“You’ve got to tip your cap to Coast,” said Altobelli, who added to his OCC career-best victories total, now 402, despite serving a suspension for too many ejections that kept him out of the dugout the entire postseason. “We went through so much and for this to happen to us, is just kind of par for the course.”

OCC also won state titles in 1956 and 1960.

State Tournament Championship Game 2

Orange Coast 10, San Joaquin Delta 7

SCORE BY INNINGS

Lopez, Solari (2), Rodriguez (5), Rogers (8) and Scott, Rowley (8); Lee, Abrams (6), Krogman (8), Wallach (9) and Arellano. W – Lee, 1-0. L – Lopez, 4-2. Sv – Wallach (4). 2B – Devencenzi (SJD), Hillman (OCC), Dunn (OCC). 3B – Wallach (OCC). HR – Hong (OCC), Dunn (OCC).

Game 1 11 innings

San Joaquin Delta 11, Orange Coast 10

SCORE BY INNINGS

Drummond, Krogman (5), Licon (6), Williams (8) and Arellano; DeValle, Gabriel (5), Anklam (7) and Rowley, Scott (9). W – Anklam, 5-1. L – Williams, 4-3. 2B – M. Stokes (OCC), R. Stokes (OCC), Dunn (OCC), Morgan (SJD), Burnett (SJD), Shull (SJD). HR – Burnett (SJD).