Rotary hosts record-setting Generals

The Shafter Rotary Club hosted the history-making Shafter Generals Baseball team at their meeting on Wednesday. The club held a luncheon in their honor and listened to Head Coach John Hill and a couple of players as they celebrated a historic season for the team.

The Shafter High Generals baseball team did what no other Generals baseball team had done when they captured the Central Section Valley title, beating Madera Matilda Torres in the championship game.

This was especially sweet for the members of the baseball team who had also played on the Shafter Generals football team. The Generals lost in the semifinals of the Valley Championship playoffs on a controversial call in overtime, dropping the game to the Toros of Matilda Torres.

:This sin was for a great group of kids and also a sweet revenge for the players who were on the football field for the loss to the Toros," said Hill.

The team ended the season with a 27-7 record, going further than any team that has come before them.

Shafter was the number 5 seed and made its way past Minarets 3-2 in the first round, earning another faceoff with rival Wasco in the quarterfinals. The Generals came out on top by a 3-1 score, giving them a game in the semifinals against Firebaugh. Shafter started off slow in the game, but the bats came to life in the sixth inning, giving the Generals anothe4r 3-2 win.

In the championship game, held in Visalia, at the home site of the Visalia Oak, the minor league baseball team, in the Single A ball, Shafter came out swinging and gave the Toros a series of punches, scoring early and often as they blanked the Toros 8-0 for Shafter's first ever Valley Championship in baseball.

They then entered the State tournament as the number 5 seed, playing the number 4 seed, traveling to Los Angeles to play the Eagles of Eagle Rock High School, in the Generals first ever State Tournament game. Shafter again started slow but came alive in the sixth inning, scoring 6 runs to take a 6-2 victory, setting up a semifinal game at Shafter with SSL rival Chavez. Unfortunately, Shafter came up just short. They tied the game with another sixth inning rally, at 4-4, forcing extra innings. But, Chavez scored two runs in the eighth and the Generals' magic had run out. Still, the season was the best in the program's history, and with the roster of kids they have coming back, Hill thinks that it wont take them eight more decades to return to the top of the Valley in baseball. This year's team had some members that had played with each other ever since the fifth grade, beginning in Recreation and travel ball teams.

Hill thanked the Rotary Club for inviting them to this event, as well as for the support that they and the rest of the city of Shafter has shown them during this amazing journey. "There will be more reasons to celebrate in the near future," said Hill.