JJ Says: Breeze is softball foundation

Much has been written and said about how Petaluma is the hotbed for baseball in the Redwood Empire. Consistently, Petaluma produces outstanding youth teams from Little League to travel teams. That, in turn, translates into successful high school teams.

With less fanfare, Petaluma also has become a focal point for Redwood Empire softball. Petaluma High, under Kurt Jastrow, and St. Vincent, coached by Don Jensen, have for years dominated their respective leagues. Petaluma’s T-Girls were the first North Bay League team to earn enough prestige to be considered in the same sentence with East Bay powers. St. Vincent has been known to routinely defeat Sonoma County and North Bay League teams.

Casa Grande has had a tough time since moving to the North Bay League, but has turned out several college-caliber players. Under Scott Sievers, the Gauchos have rebounded over the past two seasons, and with a team of outstanding underclassmen returning next spring, are on the verge of having an exceptional team.

As with the baseball teams, the success of the high school softball teams begins with the youth program. For softball, that means the Petaluma Girls Softball Association and specifically the competitive travel teams in the Steal Breeze program.

Local youth softball was on full display last weekend in the Steal Breeze’s annual Father’s Day Tournament. The tournament has become a Father’s Day tradition in Petaluma, bringing in teams from all around the Bay Area for three days of competition. This year, teams came from as far away as Alameda, Campbell and Castro Valley to compete.

The tournament, as usual, was a model of efficiency, with games mostly starting and ending on time and hundreds of young athletes scurrying to and fro while parents erected canopies and sought respite under the natural shade of tree-dotted Prince Park.

An indication of just how good the Petaluma program has become could be gleaned by the tournament championship games. There were four age divisions in the tournament. Petaluma teams won all four. And this was no show-up-and-win tournament. Despite triple-digit temperatures, there was some extremely good softball played over the course of the tournament.

With four teams playing in championship games almost simultaneously, it was difficult to concentrate on any particular age group, but here are a few observations:

I didn’t see any really dominant pitchers. There were several quality pitchers who threw strikes, even among the 8-year-olds, but this year teams seemed to rely more on defense, and outstanding glove work highlighted the championship games.

There is a vast difference between the under 8s and the under 10s. The under 8s try hard, but are just learning the game. As the skill of the under 10s shows, they learn rapidly.

Best championship game was the under 10 battle between the Steal Breeze’s Brody and the Alameda Lightning. Steal Breeze won with a run in the seventh inning, but the real story was the superb defense played by both teams. There was some truly outstanding glove work.

It is hard to believe the same girls were just learning how to catch and throw a couple of years earlier, but it is the fundamentals so quickly learned as 8-year-olds that make them so good at 10, and the improvement made as they advance through the age groups that makes them so good as high school players.

I only saw about three innings of the Breeze under 14s win over the Millbrae Mischief in their championship game, but I would bet the Steal Breeze group of young teens could beat most junior varsity and some varsity teams in the Sonoma County and North Bay leagues. They are that good.

It was great to see all Steal Breeze teams win, but, if I wasn’t afraid of burning my bald noggin, I would tip my cap to all who played in the tournament. To play as hard as they did, for as long as they did as hot as it was certainly deserves a medal.

(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson.com)