Othello holds try-out for Cal Ripken baseball

Troy Mendez concentrates on the target under the watchful eye of coach Rigo Ozuna during baseball tryouts at Lions Park.

by Bob Barrett & Sun Tribune Sports
| August 12, 2016 6:00 AM

OTHELLO — Coaches Rigo Ozuna, Johnny Martinez and Joey Villarreal know what it takes to win baseball games at the state level of Cal Ripken tournaments, and they are out to improve Othello’s chances.

To that end, Ozuna, Martinez and Villarreal and several other coaches held two days of try-outs at Lions Park to create three teams.

“We are going to have three different teams, an 8, 9 and 10 year old team,” Ozuna said.

This summer, the three coached an Othello 10-U team to a 12-10 victory over Mt. Vernon in pool play at state. They had 8-4 win over Moses Lake in the first round of championship bracket play.

Othello was represented by a 9- and a 10-year-old team in the state tournament and both Othello sides lacked experience.

“We are young, with four or five 8-year-olds, and the rest are 9,” coach Matt Garza said of his 9-year0old team.

Ozuna’s ten-year old team included five 9-year0olds and a 7-year0old. The hope is that next year, Othello teams will be competing against players their own age.

The expectation is the kids will be more competitive if they are not playing up against teams comprised of older players, the coaches said.

All three will be select teams and all three will be made up of virtually all Othello youngsters. One player from Ephrata and one from Warden are under consideration.

The number of youths turning out was impressive, given the short one week notice of the try-outs. All thee squads will have enough players to build a manageable size team of 10 or 11 players.

“We want 10 or 11 kids on a team as it is tough to get more than that into a game,” Ozuna said.

A second session of try-outs is scheduled for August 22-23. With 17 prospects turning out for the 10-U team in the first session of try-outs, there is a possibility of an A and a B team for the 10-year-olds.

People interested in following the baseball teams can do so on Facebook at O-Town Bombers.

If the coaches are able to field complete teams for each age group, the Othello clubs should be more competitive in next summer’s tournaments.

Plans are to conduct a winter practice session to prepare for next baseball season.

“We rent out a gym during the winter, and we are in there swinging sticks and having pitchers throw, and we soft toss,” Ozuna said. “Last winter we started in November and were done in March.”

Ozuna feels his team has shown improvement over time. It did very well when it competed within its age group.

“We finished .500,” he said. “When we started as 8-year-olds, we got worked. We got beat bad. But they hung in there, and you can see the improvement. Now they can compete.”

After another winter of practice sessions, and with full squads of players competing with other kids their own age, the hope is the Othello teams will do more than compete.

They plan to win.