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Palo Alto Online

Palo Alto's fine year ends in a 4-3 loss

by Rick Chandler

They tried to work their magic one more time, but Mark Wells and the Palo Alto High baseball team just couldn't get the rabbit out of the hat.

It was close, however. With Durell Williams a tantalizing 90 feet from home plate with two out in the bottom of the seventh, cleanup hitter Ryan Baukol grounded out to shortstop, and just like that, the Vikings' season was over with a 4-3 Central Coast Section Division II playoff loss to Los Gatos on Saturday at Washington Park in Santa Clara.

That Paly made it to the CCS quarterfinals was in itself a neat trick. The Vikings weren't blessed with great hitting, and certainly didn't have a pitcher of the stature of University of California-bound Alex Rollin, the starter for Los Gatos on Saturday. But they had a lot of things in their favor -- Paly is well-coached, determined and fundamentally sound.

"It was a good season, and the thing I take away from this is that they were such a great group of kids," said Palo Alto coach Pete Colombo, whose team finished 20-9 overall. "No matter what they were faced with, they competed. And that's all you can ask."

Palo Alto finished second in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division this season, and ironically it was a team that finished behind them that knocked the Vikings out of the playoffs. The Wildcats had finished third in league, but on Saturday they had an ace in the hole in the hard-throwing Rollin, who breezed through the first three innings without allowing a baserunner.

Meanwhile, Los Gatos (18-12) scored a run in the first off of Paly starter Jason Kleinhoffer and another in the second off reliever Mark Wells to take a 2-0 lead. And that's the way it stood until the fourth, when the Vikings tied it on back-to-back doubles by Williams and Jon Picazo, Russ Hagemann's groundout and a single by Nathan Ford.

Wells pitched well in relief, going five-plus innings and giving up only four hits, striking out six. But Travis Powell's two-run home run in the fifth -- a drive that barely snuck inside the left-field foul pole -- gave the Wildcats a 4-2 lead. Play came within 4-3 in the bottom of the inning when Adam Dexter reached base on a fielder's choice and scored on an infield error.

Williams led off the seventh with a walk, and Picazo sacrificed him to second. After Hagemann flew out to center, Williams went to third on a wild pitch. But that's where Paly's season ended, as Baukol grounded out to end the game.

Palo Alto had four baserunners in the sixth but couldn't score. Baukol doubled to lead off the inning, but was later picked off third.

"We're upset we lost, but at the same time we're proud of how hard we worked," said junior first baseman Shane Parsons. "I know it sounds like something you hear all the time, but this is a very close team. Many of us have played together since Little League."

With 12 players returning, the Vikings have reason to be optimistic. Colombo loses only five seniors.

"We had no doubt that we would make the CCS playoffs, and that's what happened," said Wells, a senior. "All year we had confidence that we would be in every game. The coaches gave us that. They made it fun."
Division III

Sacred Heart Prep (17-8) had the opportunity to reach new heights on Tuesday night as the Gators battled to reach their first-ever appearance in the section finals.

Sacred Heart Prep, seeded sixth, took on No. 2 Santa Cruz (22-12) with the winner advancing to the CCS championship game Saturday.

While the Gators have never reached the finals, the fact that Santa Cruz won its opener over King's Academy, 1-0, in 10 innings had to be comforting for SHP coach Ray McDonald. The Gators split their season series with King's Academy, both by 4-3 scores. In their second meeting, SHP did lose but that was after the Gators had wrapped up the Private Schools Athletic League title.

Sacred Heart Prep opened its quest for a first-ever section title by upending No. 3-seeded Soledad, 4-3, in nine innings last Friday at Washington Park in Santa Clara.

The Gators grabbed a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth when junior third baseman Mike Connor led off with a single. Connor, who was the leading hitter in the PSAL this season with a gaudy .551 average, promptly stole second.

Sophomore Domenic Di Ricco then lined an RBI single to center and took second on the throw home trying to get Connor. Di Ricco advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored the eventual winning run on another wild pitch.

Soledad did score a single run in the bottom of the ninth, but SHP closed it out when first baseman Hudson Smythe made an over-the-shoulder grab of a soft fly.

Sophomore pitcher Michael Johnson went six strong innings, allowed only two unearned runs and six hits. Freshman Pat Coffey finished things off by allowing just two hits over the final three innings.

Senior Nick Favro had three hits for SHP while Di Ricco added two plus two RBI.