Marysville baseball hero puts perspective on his team’s gut-wrenching playoff loss
Elijah Marin’s moment of a lifetime lasted seconds.
It played out in slow motion for the Marysville High School left fielder, who may best be known in Yuba County as a fine student, a versatile athlete, a reliable team leader and a loving and loyal older brother. Oh, and for his Ford F-150 pickup that burns oil and blasts tunes.
Marin’s moment on May 24: Two outs. Runner on base. The pitch. The swing. The ball dropping in safely in the Sacramento City College outfield. It was a Sac-Joaquin Section championship game victory for guys who have hung around the team since their youth and for a community that supports its sports heroes.
It was a scorching day, in front of a packed house. The mob-scene joy after Marin’s RBI base hit came in the bottom of the ninth inning of the title game against Calaveras. It was storybook stuff. For Marysville and Marin, it turned into a nightmare.
“My first walk-off winner in my 14 years playing baseball, and I was so excited and proud,” Marin said days later. “We won the game and then we lost that game. I don’t think I’ve ever been that mad in my life. And then everyone asked, ‘Did he touch the bag?’ I touched the bag.”
The celebration ended just as fast as it sparked because the only opinion that matters in this sport is that of the umpire. Did Marin touch first base after that hit? Marin said yes. So did his coaches, and his teammates, and the Marysville fans. Were they all watching the play at first? Well, no. Most tend to watch the ball land and then the celebration. It’s human nature. That’s what I did. That’s what Marin’s family did. Watch the flight of the ball, then the celebration.
No one from Marysville wants to believe or accept that Marin missed the bag.
Controversy at first base, aftermath
First-base umpire Dave Auchard ruled, upon appeal by Calavearas, that Marin did not touch first base. Marin was out, the inning ended and the game continued. Marysville had runners on base in the final two innings but Calaveras won 9-7 in 11 exhaustive innings for the program’s first Sac-Joaquin Section baseball championship. That team’s glee at winning the Division IV tournament came at the expense of Marysville’s angst, and no one carries that burden more than Marin.
Marysville was in a baseball final for the first time in 40 seasons. Members of that 1982 title team attended the game.
As the Northern California Regional baseball playoffs roared on last week without Marysville, Marin was left wondering what happened and what it all means. Marysville coaches argued the first-base umpire was out of position, that he should have been over by the foul line, thereby making for a more clear view of the play at first. The ump was a few feet away, just to the inside of the bag. Sac City baseball coaches and staffers running the event insist Marin missed the bag by inches, and in baseball, that can be considered a mile.
At this level, when a referee or umpire says a guy is out, he’s out. Marin said he won’t let the controversy consume him any more. It did for two days. He didn’t sleep or eat for two days, and what is it that 18-year olds do best? They eat and they sleep.
“I’m back to normal now,” Marin said, allowing a laugh.
Perspective matters
Marin’s enduring message of perspective is what matters most, and that’s why I tracked him down to hear his story. His message will resonate much longer than the walk-off that wasn’t.
“I hit the ball, and I was in shock, thinking, ‘Please land over his head out there!’” Marin recalled. “I remember touching the corner of the bag, on the foul-line side. Then I was out. I was in more shock. I thought it was a dream come true, then a dream that it wasn’t true. I was hugging my coach — ‘I love you!’ — when out of the corner of my eye, I could see the ump saying I was out on the appeal. ‘What’s going on?’”
Marin pondered his own question. What’s going on? He concluded in an uplifting interview that there was a lot going on that means a great deal more than what happened in a baseball game. This game was played the same day as the Texas massacre, when a heavily armed gunman killed 19 elementary school students in their classroom. The gunman also killed two teachers. It happened in Uvalde, a small town like Marysville.
“I came to the point that there’s worse stuff going on in the world, like the homeless and that Texas shooting, and at the end of the day, ours was just a baseball game,” Marin said. “I’m sad we didn’t make school history. I’m devastated that we didn’t win it. But life goes on. Sports are my whole life, but some don’t get to live on, like those kids (in Texas) or those in war.”
Bill Rollins is the Marysville baseball coach, having just completed his 10th season. He is a graduate of the school. So are the parents of a lot of the players, such as Noe Marin, father of Elijah Marin. So, yes, coaches and fathers feel every bit of this, too. Rollins checked in on Marin the day after the game. The kid was fine. Looked exhausted but fine. Coaches don’t just coach. They keep tabs on their players because you spend so much time with them that they become family.
“Elijah is an awesome kid with a great perspective,” Rollins said. “I asked one of the campus security officers to get him out of class the day after the game. I gave him a hug and told him I love him, proud of him, and to reach out if he ever needs someone to talk to.”
The coach added later, “Due to the fact that this call took a section championship away from our kids and our community, it is hard to find closure. I could coach another 50 years and never encounter something like this again. If you made a movie about the game and said it was a true story, nobody would believe it.”
Moving on
Marin has one final act in baseball. He will wear his Marysville cap and school colors in the Optimist All-Star game on June 12, a showcase for graduated seniors. He graduated Friday, a final hurrah for students, teachers and staffers. Marin will soon turn his focus to football at Sierra College in Rocklin, where he plans to play running back and to maintain his near-perfect grades that he had in high school. He wants to get into law enforcement.
Marin represents so many just like him. He will play until someone tells him there are no more uniforms to hand out.
“I’m ready for football and college, and I’m excited about it,” Marin said. “Baseball kind of drained me. I was done after 14 years of playing. I love baseball. I love my town and my teammates and coaches. I feel like we’re champions. We won a school-record 26 games. It was a fantastic year.”
Led in part by a guy with a fantastic attitude. Here’s the other cool thing about sports. The games do go on. Days after Marysville’s crushing loss, Marin watched his girlfriend, Josei Landis, compete for a section softball championship. It was a close loss to Dixon, but getting to the finals was the journey that mattered most.
And then on Sunday, Marin watched his 9-year-old sister Madyn compete for a District 2 softball championship in Marysville. They didn’t win it, but they competed because they cared. That’s a lasting message, too. You don’t have to win the final game to be a champion.
Marin’s father, Noe, coached that softball team. Noe also for years coached Elijah and brother Ezra. Sports is a family way of life.
“So proud of my kids,” Noe said. “And I’m so proud of how Elijah handled the (loss to Calaveras). His attitude amazes me.”