Petaluma Little Leaguers headed to softball nationals

Little Leaguers aren’t the only young Sonoma County ballplayers competing in postseason tournaments this month.

Two teams from Petaluma’s Steal Breeze travel softball organization have qualified for the USA Softball National Championships next week in Southern California.

The under-10s, coached by Mike Learn, and the under-12s, led by Billy Brody, head to Camarillo to compete against 71 other teams from several Western states that qualified in regional tournaments.

The teams, for which the young athletes try out, play in spring and summer tournaments throughout Northern California with hopes of qualifying for the nationals.

The U10s started out their season going an unimpressive 2-2-1 in a tournament in Hayward. But they caught fire and won 27 of next 30 games.

In the final qualifier before nationals, they lost their first game, sending them to the loser’s bracket and an uphill climb.

They played four games on Saturday and four on Sunday - winning them all - to place third and win a bid to Camarillo.

The U12s didn’t have it easy either, Brody said.

They won one game on Friday, one on Saturday, lost their first game on Sunday and had to play again in the loser’s bracket.

“We had a little bit of a struggle again there,” Brody said.

Their next game went nine innings and stretched over 3½ hours, ending in a 15-12 win after an international tiebreaker. They won their final game 10-8 to qualify for Camarillo.

Steal Breeze has sent four teams in the past four years to nationals, Brody said, after a long drought for Petaluma softball.

He attributed the success to “good parents, good kids, good coaching.”

Based in Oklahoma City, the nonprofit USA Softball association is one of the leading proving grounds for young players who might have a future in high school and college softball.

The group registers more than 80,000 girls fast-pitch softball teams with 1.2 million girls each year.

Each travel team must be associated with a local recreational league, in this case the Petaluma Softball Association. Santa Rosa, Windsor and Rohnert Park also sponsor travel teams.

Learn said nearly every one of the team’s 12 players plays an important part of every game.

“It’s a very, very balanced team,” he said. “Defense, defense, defense. But we have some pretty good offense too.”

The U10s have scored 329 runs and allowed just 107.

Brody’s team feels like family, he said.

“Our girls gel together,” he said. “There are 12 sisters on that team. That’s how they treat each other. They come from different backgrounds and don’t all go to school together, but they know when they get on the field, it’s time to strap on the cleats and be a family.”

The teams conduct fund-raisers to help defray family travel costs. Each team has GoFundMe accounts for donations.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.