We are pleased to share the news that Santa Barbara will be on the fastball map for the 2011 season. The news comes from, longtime Santa Barbara player, Phil Hiromerides. The team will play in local Santa Barbara tournaments, including, most notably, the best of the West tournament June 4-5, 2011 ( held in Santa Barbara) as well as Masters events. Lots of familiar names and faces on this group.
The 2011Team Santa Barbara roster:
(pitchers shown in bold)
Ben Limosnero
Joe Vigil
Phil Hiromerides
Mick Ventura
John Silacci
Tony Acedo
Bud Sander
Mark Bennett
Pete Favero
Steve Garcia
Steve Adams
Russ Arellanes
Clayte Robinson
Kevin Spiers
Robert Renteria
Joe Edwards
Ron Mizener
Aaron Owens (part-time)
Coach Gary May
Coach Clyde Bennett
Santa Barbara has a long history of men’s fastball in the Southern California area, including the Santa Barbara instant replay team of the early 1990s, and Santa Barbara Bucks team that followed. The Bucks represented California in a number of ISC World Tournaments. A number of the players on the 2011 Team Santa Barbara squad were members of those Bucks teams, Additionally, catchers Tony Acedo (Team Rainey), and Aaron Owens (Long Beach Painters, and as a young 18-year-old with the 1990 Vista Bombers) also bring ISC World Tournament experience to next year’s squad.
Editor’s note: I’m sure this news will bring a smile to the face of our friend Dave Blackburn, who is a longtime member of this group. We shared a quote from Dave about teammate Phil Hiromerides in a feature story about Phil some time ago, “The Greek God of Hitting“. In talking about Phil, Dave Blackburn said:
“We called him the Greek God of Taters, because he didn’t just hit the ball hard, he mashed itâ€.