Coach Bret Gladden is in his first year directing the baseball program at Willow Glen and the Rams are making life easy for him. The first annual pre-season Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division Tournament was held last week and Willow Glen (8-1) walked away with the championship with a 5-1 win over Santa Teresa.

The key hit was delivered by senior Chris Hobbs, who blasted a two-out, bases-loaded double in the fourth inning to drive in three runs and give the Rams a 5-0 lead.

Seniors Justin Jeffrey and Jason Etheridge got things started, leading off the inning with back-to-back singles. After a failed sacrifice bunt attempt and a pop out, first baseman Steve Rebagliati came through with a clutch single to drive in a run and keep the inning alive. Tyler Smith drew a walk to load the bases for Hobbs.

The Rams almost broke the game open early when they loaded the bases in the first on walks to John Gibilisco and Rebagliati, sandwiched around a single by Smith. They were able to only pick up one run on a sacrifice fly by Carlos Torres, giving them a 1-0 lead that they held until the fireworks later.

Etheridge (3-0) was on the mound for the Rams and threw four shutout innings before turning the ball over to Smith to close out the contest. The two Rams gave up a combined five hits and Smith gave up the one run late in the game.

The two hurlers got some fine defensive efforts to back them up. Center fielder Hobbs gunned down one Santa Teresa runner trying to score from second on a base hit. Rebagliati snagged a ground ball deep in the hole and fired a bullet home to nail a Saint attempting to score from third.

"We have stressed all year to take care of the ball," said Gladden. "We have told our pitchers not to be afraid to let them hit the ball because we'll catch it. And that's what we've been doing."

After finishing in sixth place the past two seasons in the BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division, by taking the pre-season tourney the Rams seem to be sending notice that they are a force to be reckoned with this season. Gladden has seven returning senior starters that provide a whole boatload of experience and leadership. He also has juniors Brent Kompelien and Smith plus sophomore Jason Jeffrey up from the junior varsity who will step into significant roles.

The Rams began the tourney by squeaking out an 8-7 win over Oak Grove. Smith started on the mound for the Rams and left after four solid innings with Justin Jeffrey coming in to relieve. He gave up three runs in two innings but got the win. Hobbs and Gibilisco had the hot bats, each of them going 2 for 4.

Willow Glen followed the first round win with a 9-2 pounding of Westmont in second-round action. The Warriors took a 2-1 lead after an inning of play but the Rams blew it wide open with five runs in the third. The Rams started it off with five singles in a row and then Kompelien and Ju. Jeffrey nailed back to back doubles. Kompelien, Smith and Ju. Jeffrey were the big hitters on the day, driving in three runs each to seal the win.

Smith (2-0) was also on the hill, pitching seven strong innings giving up only five hits and striking out four to get the win. After giving up the two runs in the first, Smith dominated the Warriors with six shutout innings.

"We played a perfect game," Gladden said. "We had them three up and three down in four of the seven innings and in the other innings we only allowed four batters up."

Willow Glen displayed solid defensive efforts as well with second baseman Kompelien and shortstop Torres working their fielding magic to turn two double plays.

The Rams qualified for the tourney championship game by hanging a 5-3 loss on Leland, the reigning Mt. Hamilton Division champion. It was a seesaw battle with the lead changing hands four times. Torres (2-1) pitched the complete game to nail down the win while he did a lot of talking with his bat as well. He roped two doubles and drove in three runs.

Leland took a 1-0 lead in the first and was able to hold onto it until the fourth when the Rams bats woke up. They were able to push two runs across to grab a 2-1 lead with a lead-off single by Gibilisco, a walk to Smith, and back-to-back doubles by Hobbs and Torres.

Leland fought back to take a brief 3-2 lead in the top of the sixth. It was brief because the Rams came right back in their half of the sixth to go back on top 5-3. Gibilisco got the ball rolling again with another lead-off single. After Smith sacrificed to get Gibilisco to second and Hobbs was intentionally walked, Torres stepped up the plate once again. He roped a double up the gap that allowed Hobbs to score all the way from first. Torres showed good speed and smart baserunning when he was able to score all the way from second on a swinging bunt that Ju. Jeffrey was able to beat out for an infield hit.

Torres went out and made short work of the Chargers in the seventh to preserve the win.

With three solid wins last week, Willow Glen has great momentum as they open up Mt. Hamilton Division play this week. The Rams travel to Mt. Pleasant on March 23 and then host the Cardinals on March 25. Both contests begin at 3:30 p.m.