Foresters Rule

A shiny national championship trophy graced City Council and
county supervisors’ meetings with its presence this week, as Santa
Barbara’s beloved Foresters baseball team returned to town as the
newly crowned World Series Champions of the National Baseball
Congress (NBC). A hard-fought 8-7 victory over the Twins of Derby,
Kansas, last Saturday culminated in the first-ever national
championship for the local amateur ball club. “We regrouped our
team and went and got this year what we were supposed to get last
year,” beaming team manager Bill Pintard announced to the county
supervisors. The Foresters have made it to the finals of the NBC
World Series twice before, but came up painfully short in 2003 and
2005. On their way to this year’s crown, the Foresters went 50-11
in the regular season, winning their 13th California Coastal League
Title, and then went undefeated in the double-elimination
championship tournament. Pitcher Alexander Francisco (3-0 in the
tourney), 2nd baseman Hector Estrella, and 19-year-old 3rd baseman
Conor Gillaspie were all named to the NBC All-America team. 

— Ethan Stewart