The Amazing True Stories of Brandon Melara
as experienced by Mel Melara
The Catch
Brandon turned 6 years old on Saturday July 31, 1999 and he received a ninja turtles fishing pole from his grandparents. He was very excited to take his new pole fishing, so we planned to go out to the Lafayette Reservoir the very next day.
Well this Sunday morning didn’t go as planned and we got a bit of a late start as Brandon and I left our home in San Ramon, CA to head out to the reservoir. We arrived at the reservoir at approximately 11am which is considered quite late for fishing. There’s an old saying that “the early bird catches the worm” and the same is true of a fisherman. Although I knew it was very late for catching fish, I was hopeful that Brandon would enjoy the experience. After parking at the reservoir, we walked together for about a quarter mile to the boat house where I would have to buy worms and a day license to be able to fish. On the way we passed some kids with an ice chest and fishing poles and I asked them how the fishing was, and they responded that it wasn’t good, was too crowded, and that they had gotten skunked. This did not give me any confidence that we would be successful, but we marched on.
When Brandon and I got down to the dock we realized that the kids we passed were right, it was very busy and we barely had a spot to fish on the long dock, which stretched and wrapped around like a big U. Now I am not a big fan of hooking worms, but for Brando’s sake I sucked it up and we put a worm on his line. I showed Brandon how to cast out his line and we were off and, in the water, patiently waiting for a bite. As we waited a few minutes we looked around at the faces of the many kids and adults that appeared frustrated with the lack of fish on that morning. It was not more than 5 minutes and certainly less minutes then Brandon was in years, but our pole began to bend and started to jingle very sharply. Brandon and I looked at each other and were so excited, it appeared to be a fish! Together we started to real in this fish and everyone on the dock turned to look at Brandon who was six years old, using his little ninja turtle pole, and appeared to be in route to the mornings first catch. Some looked like wow that kid is so lucky, he’s only been here like 5 minutes and he’s going to catch something. As Brandon slowly reeled the fish up to the dock, the fish began to approach the surface of the water and you could begin to see what he had hooked. It was a nice size Trout 12-14 inches in length, but that was not all, there was something else appearing at the surface and it was an even bigger fish that had a piece of the trout in its mouth. It appeared to be a big mouth bass attached to the tail of this Trout and we realized that Brandon was not just reeling in one fish, but he was reeling in two fishes! As Brandon was reeling in the fish, I had my net out and was watching as the two fish approached the dock. As soon as I put my big net in the water to try and capture this pair of fish the Big Bass released and splashed us on his way into deep water. He got way but Brandon had caught his first fish a beautiful rainbow trout, and the excitement was more than we thought was possible upon arrival. In that moment Brandon was so proud and excited he could not contain his big ear to ear smile. It was an amazing moment and we captured it on a photo, Brandon together with his pole and his trout. The very next day Mr. Bob our next-door neighbor who’s 5-year-old son Derrick, was one of Brandon’s besties, graciously offered to cook the fish. We filleted the trout and broiled it in his oven and the four of us enjoyed the bounty for dinner.
The Hit
Brandon was 12 years old when he made his first little league all-star baseball team. He was a great little all-around athlete and had played baseball since he was 7 years old. Brandon played pitcher, short stop and centerfield, but Brandon did not have a good date of birth for sports. He was born July 31, 1993 and July 31st just happen to be the cut-off date for most sports at the time, this meant that Brandon was the youngest kid on the baseball team and on the soccer team. Since he was a competitive athlete it was a challenge to keep pace with the older and sometimes bigger kids. When Brandon turned 12, he began to mature as a baseball player, and he made the all-star team for the first time. He played for the San Ramon Marlins in the Canyon Creek Little League, and Brandon had a breakout year. Brandon had an over 600 Batting Average and had an even higher on base percentage, because he had such a good eye, he rarely struck out, and would either put the ball in play or get walked. He was so fun to watch and of course I was a very proud dad. Not only was Brandon an amazing little athlete at 12, but he was also a Presidential Student at Iron Horse Middle School, which required a 3.5GPA and always worked hard to do his best. At the end of his 12-year-old season, he was selected to play with the All-Stars, and he was so excited to finally break into the team. Now if your familiar with little league baseball the 12-year-old All-Stars, is the age group and venue that if you keep winning takes you all the way from the district and regional championships all the way to the Little League World Series. Simply stated the most exciting year to play little league All Stars.
The All-star team had a couple of weeks to prepare as all the new kids from different teams tried to gel as a team. They had a couple of weeks of practice and a couple of warmup games. Then the kids were launched into the District 57 Little League All Star tournament which was the first springboard to potentially get to the Little League world series at Williamsport, PA
That Saturday morning of the District 57 tournament was a beautiful one. The tournament was in Pleasanton at their large sports park. We were scheduled to play in the first game of the tournament at 8am. The field was decorated with all American banners like it was the 4th of July. Little League had a arranged a beautiful field with perfectly manicured lawns and a home run fence at the fields permitter. That morning was around 72 degrees and the temps were going to hit the 90s. The morning dew smelled lovely as the fields had been freshly cut and looked amazing. Brandon was new to the All-Star team and many of these kids had played together for so many years, so the coach was wondering where to play Brandon and when to have him hit. Just before the game, the coach asked Brandon if he would hit lead off to start the game. Brandon had never hit lead-off in his life, he was generally the number 3 or 4 hitter on the Marlins, but Brandon was not one to question the coach and agreed to hit first. Brandon’s Canyon Creek little league team was matched up against Dublin All Stars in that first game and Dublin had their Ace pitcher starting the game, as everyone wants to win that first game to stay in the winner’s bracket. Dublin’s Pitcher was a tall lanky hard throwing lefty who could throw close to 70 miles an hour. Since the mound is closer in Little league, that’s the equivalent to a 90-mph fast ball in the big leagues. The teams gave their cheers and the parents screamed their support and the game was underway. Brandon stepped into the batters box and took the first pitch, which was a strike and Brandon could see that the velocity was very fast, so tried to get adjusted. The second pitch Brandon took a rip at and fouled it back, now he was down 0-2 and had to protect the plate. He then fouled off a couple of more pitches and battled to 2 balls and 2 strikes count, almost to a full count. The full count never came, the very next pitch was a fast ball directly down the middle of the plate and Brandon got all of it. The ball jumped off of the barrel of Bandon’s bat and went directly up and out into center field where it just continued to climb. I had never seen Brandon hit a ball so well. It soared well over the center fielders head and about 10 feet beyond the center field home run fence. It was a leadoff Home run! Brandon rounded the bases and met his team mates at home plate where he had hit the first home run of his life. It came at the right time in the right place for Brandon and he was so excited. The groundskeeper quickly rode his cart out to the open grass area, retrieved the ball, came back to the crowd and asked were Brando’s father was, upon acknowledging him, he flipped me Brandon’s home run ball which also put a big smile on my face.
The Pitch
We had Brandon try several sports as a kid, one of the sports he played and had a knack for was golf. Brandon joined the youth golf program at Bridges Golf club in San Ramon and I dropped him off there every day during the summer for camps and to play golf with some of his buddies like Drew Bender, Johnny Sarmenta and Ryan McCulluogh. These were all baseball friends of Brandon’s. At age 8 he competed in the Bridges youth golf tournament in San Ramon, where he placed 3rd for his age group among 24 kids. I videotaped some of his shots and Brandon was seen chipping out of the sand and onto the green at a very young age. The Bridges had just opened as a community golf course in San Ramon, CA and was quite beautiful and known for its well-manicured greens and very tight and unforgiving fairways. As it became hotter in the later summer months and I dropped Brandon off to play 18 holes of golf early in the morning to avoid the heat. I later learned that Brandon had his own ideas of beating the heat, he ended up opting out of playing 18 holes and decided to only play six holes. Back in 2003, The Bridges Golf club had just opened and the first 6 holes on the course were configured into a loop and would then go through a tunnel and off to hole number 7 on the other side of the golf course. This was too much of a temptation for Brandon to pass up, as he and his buddies quickly learned that instead of playing 18 holes of golf in the heat, they could play 6 holes and then end up at the club house grill where they would have virgin strawberry daiquiris and the lunch of their choice. Brandon could be a hard worker at times, but he loved his short cuts and a was often proud of outsmarting the “man,” or in this case, his dad. A morning 6-hole game and an afternoon siesta at the clubhouse was right up his alley and healthy compromise in Brandon’s book.
Brandon was good baseball player but the coaches on the baseball team often told him he had a golf swing. He did have a beautiful swing which was attributed to starting him early with golf lessons. When Brandon was ten, he competed in a couple more youth tournaments and on a hot August day in 2003 he competed in the Los Altos Country Club in a Northern California Youth Golf Association (NCYGA) tournament. Brandon was put into the U12 bracket with 10- and 11-year old kids. What we quickly learned was that there were a lot of dads with the dream of having their kids become the next Tiger Woods. This meant that the parents, had their kids dedicated to golf only so their kids played year-round. In addition, these were the best golfers in Northern California and their parents had purchased custom made clubs, which made it a little more forgiving. Brandon was multiple sport athlete and played golf mostly during a 6-8 weeks of summer, when he was not playing baseball or competitive soccer. This meant he was at a bit of a disadvantage vs the kids that were Golf Only kids. As the tournament started, we could see that the scores required to place in this tournament were anywhere from a regulation score 38 to 42 for 9 holes. Brandon at Age 10 scored in the 45-52 range for 9 holes and we could both see that he was playing with some amazing 10 and 11-year-old golfers in this tournament. As the golf round began Brandon felt some pressure because he was playing with some very good players and Brando did not like to lose. He was losing a stroke a hole against these kids and that made him less relaxed, so it became a long afternoon. I walked with him carrying his bag as his caddie and tried to help him relax but he was feeling the pressure. We had a lady with us who was a member at the club and a volunteer for the tournament. She was the official in our group and there was one in every foursome to insure everyone scored fairly. By the time the 7th hole came around Brandon was clearly not going to place in this tournament and was not happy about losing by several strokes to his competition. The approach on the 7th green played as an uphill hole with the top of the flag in view but not the green, it was just over a slight hill. Brandon was hitting his 3rd shot from approximately 75 yards out and he was playing a Par4 hole. The other kids were already on in 2 and so Brandon was behind. He squared up focused and hit a very nice shot that we could see hit the green and we were hopeful that the ball would stay on the green and not roll off but could not see where it came to rest. By the time we walked up to the 7th green as a foursome we could see only 3 balls on the green and were hoping that one of them was Brandon’s. We quickly saw that the other 3 boys claimed the 3 balls on the green and we could not see Brandon’s ball. The official tried to help us find Brandon’s ball assuming it had rolled off into the rough or the shrubs. The official saw a ball and asked if Brandon was playing with a Slazenger ball, which I quickly responded Before Brandon could “yes that’s his ball,” Brandon was actually playing with a Nike ball, but I wanted to save him the embarrassment of taking more penalty strokes. Brandon began to play the Slazenger ball and when he putted out of the hole, he found that his Nike ball was actually in the bottom of the cup. He had holed out from 75 yards out for a birdie and won the hole. When the official realized what had happened, she congratulated Brandon for an amazing shot and for winning the hole. At the end of the day at the banquet dinner, they gave out 4 awards, the top 3 finishers which had respective scores of 39, 40 and 41 for 9 holes, and the longest hole out of the tournament, which was given to Brandon for his 75-yard approach shot. Brandon enjoyed the acknowledgement and instant respect he got from the other kids with this amazing shot and was smiling ear to ear when he walked up to receive his award, it was another good moment for Brandon.
These are just a few of the many blessings I saw Brandon experience as a child. I often wondered why Brandon was so blessed and had so many amazing moments at the exact right time. Now I know why he was so blessed as a child, and I too feel blessed to have shared those moments with him.