When most people think of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, they think of the delicious food associated with it.
But when the members of Los Gigantes think of the festival, they think softball.
Los Gigantes, along with 19 other teams, took part in the 28th Annunal Men’s ‘E’ Garlic Festival Softball Tournament July 20-21 at Christmas Hill Park.
The team — which dons orange and black jerseys like its major league counterpart — have participated in the tournament for the last five years, winning it three years ago. Los Gigantes came close again this year, going undefeated until the final round where it fell 6-5 and 13-3 to loser’s bracket victor PJ’s Angels of Hollister.
“It’s a big city thing — bragging rights. Everybody from town who plays wants to win,” Los Gigantes player Matias Franco said. “It can get really fierce towards the end of the tournament.”
But it’s not all seriousness for the players of Los Gigantes. While their intent was win the tournament, they didn’t want to lose sight of the real reason they play softball — to have fun.
“We don’t get to see a lot of the guys too often. So with this, it’s nice to get back together,” player Jose Melendrez said. “You can’t take the fun out of it. You can’t take the fun out of baseball or softball — you’ve got to make it fun.”
Los Gigantes got the best of both worlds during its tournament run. The team was given a forfeit win over its first opponent Olam before downing last year’s champion Just Blaze 13-3 and 2012 runner-up Team FUPA 15-3 on Saturday. The Gilroy team went on to throttle Good Fellas 23-6 and Broke Bat Mountain 23-1 Sunday before playing for the title.
The tournament has become a tradition for the players of Los Gigantes, who use it has a way to kick off Gilroy’s biggest event of the year — the Garlic Festival.
“It’s always the week before (the Garlic Festival),” Los Gigantes manager Nick Franco said. “We expect it and a lot of people expect it. That’s why it’s a big thing for a lot of people. The food next week is going to cover for all the calories we’re going to burn in the tournament.”
