South Bay baseball player who died in car crash honored by league

There was no obligation for the baseball coaches to make an exception for late Westmont standout Kirk Vasquez at their season-ending all-league meeting.

No one would have said anything had they done nothing.

But the coaches made a decision that left Vasquez’s parents feeling grateful, an act that won’t be forgotten in their eyes.

They put Vasquez on the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division’s first team even though the junior died while driving home from a baseball game three games into the season.

“That was very, very sweet of them, very, very nice,” Samantha Orozco, Vasquez’s mother, said Saturday. “It was a great honor. I know he would have been absolutely thrilled and honored.”

Leland coach Mike Sparrer brought up the idea and the rest of the coaches were on board, Westmont coach Adam Perez said last week.

Vasquez committed to the University of the Pacific during his sophomore year — the youngest player to do so under the university’s current coaching staff — and was expected to lead a young Westmont team this past season.

But the left-handed pitcher lost control of his car in wet conditions Feb. 26 and struck a tree just minutes from his home in Campbell. He died later that night.

His death devastated the local baseball community, with travel ball teammates paying respect to Vasquez when their high school teams played Westmont, which finished the season 4-20.

Vasquez was the only Westmont player the coaches named to the league’s first team.

“It was a really cool thing,” Perez said. “I was touched that they wanted to do that for Kirk. In the meeting, a lot of the coaches said some nice words about him because obviously most of them knew who Kirk was. They had competed against him the previous year.

“We obviously talk (in the off-season) about who we have coming back. He was a name that I would often bring up.

“Everybody recognized his talent level. I can say that they wouldn’t do that for anybody. Obviously, we’d want to pay respects. But it was also paying respect to how good of a talent Kirk was.”

Dave Vasquez, Kirk’s dad, said he was in New York when he heard about the recognition for his son.

“I thought it was fantastic,” Dave said in a text. “I was honored and wasn’t sure who or how to thank them.”

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