Does anyone remember George Goebel? Decades ago, the ancient comedian had one of the best lines I have ever heard during an interview on the Johnny Carson show. “Did you ever feel like the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?” he deadpanned.
That’s exactly the way I felt about Saturday’s North Coast Section Division 2 championship game between Casa Grande and Arroyo. Everything was dressed up, but something was not quite right - and it never got right.
Sonoma State University did its best to mess things up for Casa Grande. The university had agreed to host the game and had received all the paperwork from the NCS. The announcements had been made that the game was to be played on the Seawolf diamond. It was all go until late Friday evening when the university pulled the plug on Casa, literally yanking the field out from under the Gauchos’ cleates.
I’m not sure at exactly what time Casa was informed that the game could not be played at SSU, but I was told Casa had about an hour to find another location for the game or the NCS would move it to Diablo Valley College in San Ramon. So much for being the No. 1 seed.
With action-movie-like suspense as the clock ticked, Petaluma High coach Jim Selvitella, a former Casa coach, offered the use of the Trojan diamond. Petaluma principal David Stirrat approved and Casa fans relaxed.
The Petaluma diamond glowed with tuxedo style and the players, coaches and fans from both sides were in a celebratory mood. Saturday’s game had the setting, the atmosphere and the excitement of a championship game.
Unfortunately, the Gauchos put on the wrong shoes. Their play did not match the occasion nor reflect their own abilities or the kind of season they put together. Perhaps they tried too hard. Perhaps they were tired from the previous night’s graduation and celebration. Who knows? Who can explain it? They simply did not play as they had most of the season. They lost 6-4.
It wasn’t that they played terribly. They battled hard, had some big hits and were still very much in the game right up until the final fly out. But overall, their play was not indicative of the way they played to win 22 games, lose just five and win the North Bay League championship.
This is no knock on the Gauchos. They were an extremely talented team, and great young men. Can you believe four D1 scholarship players and maybe as many as 10 (counting underclassmen) more who can play on some next level.
I’ve seen a lot of good hitters and good hitting teams. I’ve seen very few players as talented with a bat as Spencer Torkelson. I may have never seen a team that hit as well as the Gauchos from No. 1 through No. 9 in their batting order.
Torkelson batted .481 - that’s batting average, not on-base percentage. He got a hit almost half the time he had an official at bat. His on-base percentage, with walks factored in, was .612. That means that he reached base close to two-thirds of the time he came to the plate. There are guys playing beer-league softball with 200-foot fences who would give up their bottle of Lagunitas to have numbers like those.
Casa Grande had a team batting average of .361.
This is not meant to be a review of the 24-5 Casa Grande championship season, but only a reminder of how good the Gauchos really were.
And, that’s what hurts. The Gauchos were a really, really good baseball team. They will probably never get the recognition they deserve because on the one day when their world dressed up in a tuxedo, they showed up wearing brown shoes.
(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscourier.com)
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