Line Drives qualify for World Series

Contributed Photo Line Drives Take First (above) Members and coaches of the Line Drives, who won the USSSA BABA season-opener championship, include (front, l-r) Chase Svatek, Joel Hernandez, Matthew Ramirez, Christopher Garcia, Jason Haller, (second, l-r) Clay Kresta, Chad Quinn, Ryan Nielsen, Cody Marquardt, Sean Guidry, Brylan Crivellari, (back, l-r) Skipper Kresta, Anthony Ramirez, Rafail Hernandez and Jimmy Svatek. (below) The Line Drives celebrate their win as a team.

This past weekend, the Line Drives played in the United States Specialty Sports Association Bay Area Baseball season opener and brought home a first-place trophy.

An El Campo-based, 11-yearold select baseball team, the Line Drives compete under USSSA guidelines. With two previous second-place trophies, the Line Drives have added yet another trophy to their baseball career.

Currently, the team is ranked sixth in the USSSA points bracket and eighth in the power rankings in the Texas South Zone.

At the close of Saturday's game, the Line Drives had one loss and were seeded in third place. Sunday, they defeated the South Texas Cobras 10-2 and went on to defeat the Alvin Express 7-4 and advance to the championship game.

For the title game, the Line Drives faced the Wranglers from the Woodlands, who are currently ranked fifth in the USSSA and defeated the Fort Bend Texans Red team in the semifinals.

The Line Drives defeated the Wranglers in six innings with a final score of 13-3.

The team is now eligible to advance to the state tournament in June and will play in the USSSA World Series in July.

Members of the Line Drives who competed in the championship tournament include Jason Haller, Joel Hernandez, Clay Kresta, Cody Marquardt, Ryan Nielsen and Chad Quinn of El Campo; Brylan Crivellari and Sean Guidry of Sugar Land; Christopher Garcia of Palacios; Matthew Ramirez of Rosenberg and Chase Svatek of Louise.

Team members who did not play in the tournament include Jax Biggers of Arcola and Tanner Mathews of Missouri City.

The Line Drives baseball team would like to thank some very special people: Manager Rafail Hernandez, Coach Jimmy Svatek, Assistant Coach Skipper Kresta, Assistant Coach Anthony Ramirez and team sponsors Quality Lease Service and S.C.S.

paid for by sponsors of the Line Drives