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Mark Krail knows a lot about teamwork. Through the years, his Pioneer High School teams have had more than their share of success, first in baseball, then in football and most recently in track and field.
This spring, the veteran Pioneer coach took a shot at managing a baseball team in the junior division of the Almaden Little League. And putting the same team concept into practice, Krail and his crew were successful once again.
The Blue Jays cruised to a 16-1 record to take the Almaden junior division championship, and it was team play that the manager figures was the key to his club's success.
"This is a team effort," Krail would tell his squad. "You can't lose the game in one inning—come to play a full seven innings every game."
And the Blue Jays most certainly came to play. They won the league championship to earn a berth in the District 12 Tournament of Champions.
The Jays clinched the TOC spot with a 7-3 win over the Angels in the championship game of the league tournament.
The Blue Jays were down 3-1 heading into the third inning, but Kevin Krail got things started with a single. Daniel Trotter followed with a single and Drew Marino walked to load the bases. Todd Westhauser doubled home two runs to tie it 3-3 and Cam O'Halloran singled home two more to give the Jays a 5-3 lead.
The Blue Jays stretched their lead to 7-3 and cruised from there to the victory, the championship and a berth in the district tournament.
Marino and Mike Cobb provided the one-two pitching punch as starters for the Blue Jays this season with Trotter, Krail and O'Halloran providing relief out of the bullpen.
Krail, Marino, Trotter, Cobb and Shawn Bundlie handled the chores on the infield for the championship Blue Jays and Westhauser was solid as the club's catcher. O'Halloran, Matt Alongi, Mike McCormick, Adam Rodriguez, Eric Uyeda and Ryan Avilla were the outfielders on the squad.
M. Krail's coaching staff included Jim Marino, Dave Trotter, Terry Bundlie and Mike McCormick.
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Contributed Photograph