RHS Baseball Completes Successful Season

By Joe Naiman

Not only did Ramona High School’s baseball team win its first league title this year since the Valley League was created in 1998, but the Bulldogs also won their first league championship in three decades and the first since Ramona was in the old 1A small school division.

The Bulldogs ended the season with a 21-9 record, including a 12-2 Valley League mark, after concluding the season with a loss in the CIF Division II playoff quarterfinals.

“It was a just tremendous year,” said Ramona coach Dean Welch. “It was a great group of kids, and winning was great and losing wasn’t so bad with these guys, because you knew they were always going to give it their best.”

The 21-win season is thought to be a school record. “We exceeded a lot of expectations,” Welch said. “Even making it into the playoffs is a positive, and we made it to the quarterfinals.”

In 2004, Ramona won 19 games, finished second in the Valley League — one game out of first place — and reached the CIF semifinals.

“For all intents and purposes, we had a tremendous year last year, as well,” Welch said.

That 2004 team included several graduating seniors.

“We lost basically our entire starting lineup except for two guys from last year,” Welch said. “Coming into this year, nobody really expected anything.”

James Meador, a sophomore in 2004, was the only all-league player returning to the 2005 roster. The Bulldogs also lost their entire pitching staff from 2004.

Ramona entered CIF playoffs with a 20-7 record and opened the post-season May 25 with a 2-0 win over Patrick Henry at Ramona. The Bulldogs then faced Grossmont, the eventual CIF Division II champion, on May 27 at Grossmont. After being down 11-0, Ramona staged a comeback effort but lost 14-10.

“We gave it a good run,” Welch said of the Grossmont game. “We were right there with them, but we just didn’t have it that day.”

The loss to Grossmont placed Ramona in the losers’ bracket in the double-elimination tournament, creating a rematch with Patrick Henry May 28 at Grossmont. This time, Patrick Henry won 4-3 to end the Bulldogs’ season.

Welch said Ramona should have won the second game against Henry.

“It just wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “A few plays here and there is the difference. You’ve got to have a little luck involved.”

Ramona loses nine seniors from the 2005 team, but three of the five all-league players are expected to return next year. In addition to Meador, also named the Valley League’s player of the year; senior David Terrell made the Valley League’s first team. Senior Sean Nelson and juniors Hector Yorba and Chris Vincent were named to the second team Valley League squad.

“We had a lot of juniors that saw a considerable amount of playing time, so I think we’re going to be just as good, if not better, next year,” Welch said.

On the other hand, he warned, the good individual years this year were brought upon in his opinion by playing together as a team.

“It’s going to be tough to replace that chemistry,” he said.

This was Welch’s fourth year as Ramona’s head coach. “This was my first graduating class,” he said. “It makes it a little bit more special.”

The 2002 freshmen on Welch’s initial team were able to conclude their four years with the league championship, and Welch developed a bond with those players over the four seasons.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep relationships long after high school,” Welch said.