Ballplayer heads Down Under for second summer Ballplayer heads Down Under for second summer (January 02, 2004)

St. Francis junior finds fertile field for winter ball in Australia

By Samay Gheewala

Tommie Bommarito, a junior at St. Francis, is getting a chance to play baseball in the summer twice this year thanks to a winter trip to Australia with the Expos International team of the Area Code Baseball organization.

Bommarito, who has played in Mountain View Little League, Mountain View Babe Ruth, and on the junior varsity team at St. Francis, was invited to play with the Area Code teams this fall, after an intensive tryout session in November.

Area Code scouts first noticed Bommarito at an instructional camp in Oakland hosted by the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau. His performance at the camp also earned him the right to participate in a national showcase in Arizona over the summer.

According to his father Chuck, Bommarito hopes to parlay his hard work over the winter into a starting position on the St. Francis varsity squad this year. "He really wanted to play ball, and he was excited about getting a chance to play this quickly," said the elder Bommarito.

So on Dec. 20, after some workouts with his new team, Tommie Bommarito got onto a plane and flew to Perth, in Western Australia. On his second day in the country, still battling jet lag, he faced a triple-header against the top under-18 and under-16 teams from the state of Western Australia.

Bommarito did well, going 2-for-5 with a walk and an RBI in the early match-ups. These were the opening games of a week-long series, in which the 16-18 year-old Expos found themselves challenged, but able to win their fair share of games. Bommarito came out strong a day later with a walk, a stolen base, and a run in a pinch-hit situation.

According to Bommarito's father, the boys play at different positions throughout the series' and are put through a rigorous schedule so that the Area Code coaches, who are affiliated with pro and college scouting organizations, can see how well the players react. Bommarito, whose preferred position is first base, has already received letters of interest from Pepperdine and Cal, and the Area Code organization hopes to improve his skills so he can become a star player at the college and pro levels.

After taking Christmas and Boxing Day (a Christmas-related holiday celebrated in ex-British colonies) off to spend with his host family, Bommarito and his team flew across the continent to Sydney and will compete against teams from eastern Australia.

Bommarito, despite the tough schedule, appears to be having the time of his life. "He hasn't seen too much outside the baseball field, but he's loving it," said his father.

E-mail Samay Gheewala at sports@mv-voice.com

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