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Palo Alto Online

Making a strong pitch

by Rick Chandler

After watching Andrew White and Jake Martin pitch complete games in the first two rounds of the District 6 14-year-old All-Star Tournament, Palo Alto manager Ron Willis knew his pitching staff was in good shape.

But while having two solid starters is great, a third is even better - especially as a team goes deeper into the postseason.

"We knew we had a lot of kids who can pitch, we just needed to find that third starter," Willis said. "That's important, because in an eight-team tournament, we'll need all the pitching we can get."

That's the situation facing Palo Alto this week, as it heads into the Northern California State Tournament in Woodland (a suburb of Sacramento). Palo Alto will open Saturday against the host team at 7 p.m., and then play on Sunday in either the losers' bracket (4 p.m.) or winners' bracket at 7 p.m.

Fortunately for Willis and his squad, that third starter has been found. And, it took only two pitches to find him.

Jay Villafana retired just one batter in the first game, but that was enough to earn him the start in the second game - and he came through with a six-inning two-hitter as Palo Alto beat San Mateo, 6-0, in the challenge game for the Babe Ruth District 6 14-year-old All-Star Tournament title at Baylands Athletic Center.

"We have our third starter now," Willis said.

San Mateo had beaten Palo Alto in the first game on Saturday, 11-4, forcing the second game to decide the title (Palo Alto had to be beaten twice by virtue of being the only unbeaten team remaining in the tournament going in to Saturday).

Palo Alto was already trailing, 6-1, in the first game when Villafana came on in relief with a runner on second and one out. On his second pitch, Villafana got San Mateo's Kevin Roux to line into an inning-ending double play.

That was all that Willis needed to see. Actually, Willis already had an idea that Villafana could be his man while watching him warm up before entering the first game.

"As soon as we saw what he had, we immediately scheduled to take him out," Willis said. "San Mateo is a good fastball hitting team, and we thought that Jay would have better success with his off-speed stuff."

Villafana was surprised to leave the first game so abruptly, but then was told of the plan.

"I thought I was going to close out the first game," he said. "But as soon as I came out, the coaches said I was going to start the second game. That was surprising, because I hadn't had any activity in the last two all-star games. The other two pitchers pitched complete games."

That would be White and Martin, who got Palo Alto to the title doubleheader with wins in the first two rounds.

Villafana, heading into his freshman year at Gunn, had never pitched in an all-star game until Saturday (he did not play on Palo Alto's 13-year-old District 6 title team last year). But once he got his chance, he made the most of it. In the second game he allowed a pair of two-out singles in the top of the first, then threw no-hit ball for five innings - giving up only two walks. Matt Erickson pitched the seventh to close it out for Palo Alto, setting down the side in order.

"As soon as I got the first two outs of the game, then I knew I had command of my pitches," Villafana said. "Then it was lights out. I had confidence."

So did his coaching staff, which let catcher Kyle Felix call the whole game.

"I'm a believer that it's a kid's game," said assistant coach Eric Warner. "Kyle's a sharp catcher. He has an understanding for the game. He called a beautiful game."

Said Villafana on Felix: "He basically called what I was thinking."

Palo Alto scored three in the bottom of the first for all the runs it would need on six straight one-out singles by Sam Zipperstein, Martin, Stephen Hicks, White, Felix and Cody West. Villafana had a pair of singles to aid his own cause, and Hicks and West also finished with two hits each. Palo Alto finished with 12 hits.

Felix, Hicks, West, Skylar Brewer and Evan Warner all had RBIs for Palo Alto.

Villafana played for Dexter Company during the regular season, with his first pitching start coming in the fourth game of the season, where he pitched a complete-game two-hitter. Ironically, that game was against Willis' team. Willis was not there, however, so did not get a real first-hand look at his new No. 3 starter until Saturday.

In the first game, Palo Alto scored a run in the first when Zipperstein slide home safely, one in the fourth on a single by Felix and Hicks' triple, and two in the fifth on a single by Martin, a walk to Felix and two San Mateo errors. Martin and Hicks each had two hits.
Babe Ruth 13s

It was a rollicking beginning for Palo Alto in the Northern California State Tournament in Vallejo on Saturday, as it advanced in the winners' bracket and got some quality batting practice in the bargain.

Ryan Quirk went four for six with a triple and five RBI to lead a 20-hit attack, as Palo Alto crushed Eureka, 29-8, at Wilson Park. Palo Alto was to take on Hayward on Monday in the winners' bracket. If Palo Alto won that game, it was to play again on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. A loss on Monday would have Palo Alto playing in the consolation bracket on Tuesday.

Palo Alto took only five innings to dispatch Eureka, as Quirk, Eric Davila (three singles), Alex Zeglin (three hits including a double, four RBI) and Daniel Johnston (double, two RBI) did most of the damage. Palo Alto broke open a scoreless game in the top of the second on Quirk's bases-loaded triple - and by the time it was done, Palo Alto had scored 10 runs in the inning.

"It was a good way to start, but now things mat get tougher," said Palo Alto coach Ron Fried, who filled three vacancies on his roster on Friday by bringing up alternates Tyger Pederson, Adam Rupp and Dustin Cottrell. All three played on Saturday, with Rupp pitching two innings, and Pederson getting a single.

Starter Jay Perlman pitched two innings and got the win for Palo Alto, running his all-star pitching record to 3-0. He had thrown a no-hitter in Palo Alto's 5-0 victory over San Mateo in the District 6 championship game last week.