Earlier this month, on August 18th, Amador students Matthew Foley, Jonny Shepard, and Riley Borges took home the victory at the 2021 Babe Ruth World Series.

“It meant everything to take home this victory. My whole team worked hard all summer to win it. Knowing that we are now going down in history with all the other teams that have won makes it all the better,” said Jonny Shepard (‘24).

The Babe Ruth League is the national baseball league for youth players. It’s separated into four different leagues: 13 year olds, 14 year olds, 13-15 year olds, and 16-18 year olds. The Amador boys competed in the 13-15 year old world series on the Pacific Southwest team.

“The difference in playing in Babe Ruth World Series and the MLB World Series is that in the Babe Ruth World Series there are ten teams in it and in the MLB there are only two. We played five teams in the tournament. They were Kentucky, North Dakota , Mississippi, Texas, Mississippi again, and then Pennsylvania in the championship,” said Matthew Foley (‘24).

For the 13-15 division the world series took place in Eagle Pass, Texas. The Pacific Southwest team beat Pennsylvania with a 9-1 victory.

“During the game we took the lead early so it was fun. Once we won it felt like the chip on our shoulder was gone because of all the work we put in for the past three years,” said Foley.

Like any other major sporting championship, the Babe Ruth World Series required an immense amount of training.

“The training was hard to get to the World Series. There were three tournaments we had to go through and win in order to get there. We practiced everyday even if we didn’t have a game. Even if it wasn’t a full 3 hour practice, even if it was just hitting or fielding for an hour or so it was hard work that all paid off,” said Shepard.

After their loss at the World Series a couple years before, it became even more necessary to win it all in 2021.

“The process of getting to this point was a grind. All of us on this team played for three years together getting to that point. In our 13 year old year we lost in our regional and we wanted to go back and prove that we can in fact win the World Series. And just all the memories that were made making new friends was super fun to be part of,” said Foley.