Altobelli savors Team USA global summer tour
COSTA MESA -- A lifetime dream was fulfilled by Orange Coast College head coach John Altobelli after joining the U.S. National Collegiate Team on a month-long tour through Taiwan, Japan and Cuba this past July as an assistant coach for University of Oregon head coach George Horton.
The opportunity came for the 24th-year Pirate head coach when Team USA assistant coach (and Tulane University head coach) David Pierce was hired to become the new head coach at the University of Texas, replacing legendary skipper Augie Garrido.
Horton, who was approached in the past by Altobelli about being an assistant on the Team USA staff, quickly informed the Pirate skipper about the opening and quickly became a part of the staff as a first-base coach and defensive coach. Pierce and Altobelli were teammates at the University of Houston in 1984-85 and with a longtime collegiate coaching connection with Horton, the transition was seamless.
"To have the opportunity to wear a Team USA baseball uniform and represent USA was a dream come true," Altobelli said. "I was never good enough as a player to be on such an elite team so to be a coach on the Colligate National team was incredible."
The CNT, a squad comprised of collegiate freshmen and sophomores, began its global tour July 5-9 in New Taipei City, Taiwan to take on the Chinese Taipei National squad and there, Team USA split the first four games of their five-game series before the fifth contest was canceled. "To travel to Taiwan, 14 hour airplane trip was fun," Altobelli said. "It was great to experience their culture and city. We even had to deal with a typhoon, which was quite interesting."
Five days later, the squad was back on the field, taking on Team Japan for a five-game set. Japan won the first two games (2-1, 1-0) before the Americans evened the series with a pair of victories (1-0, 10-2) before falling in Game 5, 5-4. "Tokyo, Japan was crazy crowded but extremely clean," Altobelli said. "The funny thing was that I never saw a trash can. As far as baseball goes, they (Team Japan) could really pitch it."
From there, the boys returned to the airport and traveled to Cuba for a five-game series. Team USA won the series three games to two and became the first Collegiate National Team to win a series in Cuba. USA lost 2 of the first 3 games before rallying for a 4-1 win in Game 4 and a 2-1 win in the series finale.
"To me, Cuba was like being in the 1950s," Altobelli said. "They were lovely people who don't have a lot and it was amazing the way people were out at all hours. We had to deal with a couple of 10 hour bus trips and police escorts everywhere. From what I was told, this was the most brutal travel schedule the Collegiate National Team had ever experienced, but the guys never complained in spite of the crazy food, the traveling, the time zones and the extreme heat and humidity. It was really a fun group to be with."
Altobelli was the only community college coach to join Horton's coaching staff. Other assistants included former longtime Long Beach State head coach Dave Snow, Ted Silva (University of Nebraska), Jason Gill (Loyola Marymount) and Mitch Karraker (Oregon).
"It was an amazing month of July and extremely proud to represent USA," Altobelli said.
